DUKE  UNIVERSITY 


LIBRARY 


The  Glenn  Negley  Collection 
of  Utopian  Literature 


A  LORD  OF  LANDS 


BY 


RAMSEY  BENSON 


NEW  YORK 
HENRY   HOLT   AND  COMPANY 

1908 


Copyright,  1908, 

BY 

HENRY  HOLT  AND  COMPANY. 


Published  August,  1908. 


uToP\d: 

-1     \  ^ 


b  ^t . 


PREFACE. 

We  are  just  after  having  a  bit  of  a  difference,  my 
daughter  EHzabeth  and  I,  touching  these  prelimin- 
ary remarks,  what  title  is  rightly  to  be  given  them. 
Elizabeth,  let  it  be  known,  is  for  calling  them  the 
Foreword. 

"  All  the  books,  nowadays,"  says  she,  "  have  fore- 
words." 

"  Indeed !  "  says  I,  with  my  feeling  for  the  old 
ways.     "Is  not  preface  good  enough  any  more?" 

"  Preface,"  says  Elizabeth,  thinking,  I  daresay, 
to  touch  a  pet  prejudice  of  mine,  "  is  Latin." 

"  Very  well !  "  says  I,  a  little  dashed,  I  am  bound 
to  confess,  but  more  than  ever  determined  not  to 
give  up.  "  If  preface  is  Latin,  what,  may  I  ask,  is 
foreword?  " 

"  Foreword,"  says  the  girl,  looking  at  me  very 
hard,  with  the  air  of  having  me  caught  in  my  own 
trap,  "  is  Anglo-Saxon." 

"That  settles  it!"  says  I.  "No  Anglo-Saxon, 
or  any  other  sort  of  Saxon,  for  me,  if  you  please. 
I  had  ancestors  in  Enniskillen,  I  suppose,  and  I  sup- 
pose I  had  ancestors  with  King  William  at  Boyne 
Water.  Anyway,  I  can  well  remember  hearing  my 
father  brag  of  it,  and  of  being  very  proud  of  it. 


11 


Preface. 


myself,  without  well  knowing  why,  nor  am  I  by  any 
means  ashamed  of  it,  even  now,  having  named  a  son 
of  mine  Walker,  but  for  all  that  we  hear  too  much 
about  the  Anglo-Saxon.  I  am  no  great  friend  of 
the  Latin,  but  there's  reason  in  all  things." 

And  so  I  am  calling  it  the  Preface. 

It  is  chiefly,  if  I  am  rightly  informed,  in  the 
thought  of  making  himself  illustrious  and  distin- 
guished among  his  fellows  that  a  man  writes  a  book, 
(why  a  woman  ever  writes  a  book  I  shall  not  under- 
take to  say,  for  I  am  wholly  at  a  loss  on  that  head) 
but  at  the  same  time  he  naturally  wishes  it  to  appear 
that  he  has  a  better,  or  at  all  events,  a  less  selfish 
motive.  Hence  the  preface,  by  means  of  which  he 
affects  to  discover  some  loftier  principle,  to  exhibit 
himself  as  one  actuated  solely  by  the  love  of  truth, 
or  the  likes  of  that.  I  am  only  human,  and  more- 
over Irish,  but  I  hope  I  am  tolerably  honest,  withal, 
and  if  I  hunger  for  applause  with  an  exceeding 
great  hunger,  I  shall  not  deny  my  nature,  and  yet, 
after  all  is  duly  owned  up  to,  I  should  hardly  have 
ventured  into  the  field  of  literature  but  for  the 
promptings  of  the  girl  Elizabeth.  She  it  was  who 
put  me  up  to  the  enterprise. 

Even  with  her  the  notion  was  some  time  coming 
to  its  growth.  Often  and  often  had  she  heard  me 
tell  the  tale,  a  part  now  and  another  part  again,  as 
had  the  other  children  likewise,  and  all  such,  indeed, 
as  I  could  get  the  ear  of,  for  there  is  nothing  I  like 
better  than  carrying  on  a  conversation  where  I  have 
little  or  none  of  the  listening  to  do,  but  it  was  not 
until  she  was  become  a  great  girl  and  had  been  away 


Preface.  iii 

to  school  that  there  came  to  her  the  thought  of  my 
writing  it  down.  Anyway,  it  was  not  till  then  that 
she  spoke  of  the  matter,  and  urged  it  upon  me  as  a 
solemn  duty  that  I  should  give  the  narrative  perma- 
nent form,  for  the  benefit  of  posterity. 

"Me  write?"  says  I,  forgetting,  in  the  surprise 
of  the  moment,  the  niceties  of  correct  usage,  as  I 
fear  I  shall  keep  on  doing  all  my  life,  in  moments  of 
strong  emotion,  out  of  the  force  of  long  habit,  and 
in  spite  of  knowing  better. 

I  assure  you  I  was  mightily  floored  by  the  pro- 
posal, coming  upon  me  all  at  once.  My  old  grand- 
mother, rest  her  good  soul  (I  trust  I  do  not  dis- 
credit m;y  religious  training,  which  was  of  the 
strictest,  when  I  wish  her  well,  though  she  be  dead, 
and  therefore,  according  to  the  letter  of  Protestant 
doctrine,  beyond  the  reach  of  our  prayers) — she,  I 
say,  would  hold  up  her  hands  at  any  of  her  race 
even  reading  a  book,  let  alone  writing  one.  She 
would  have  it  that  there  was  no  such  thing  as  read- 
ing, by  common  folks,  only  a  wicked  pretense  by 
which  a  generation  of  vipers  tried  to  make  them- 
selves out  as  good  as  their  betters,  meaning  the 
clergy  and  the  gentility.  I  was  never  of  that  mind, 
thanks  to  my  great  opportunities,  but  still  I  was 
far  from  ready  for  Elizabeth's  proposal.  I  was 
for  carrying  the  matter  off  with  a  joke,  at  first,  but 
I  soon  found  the  girl  was  very  much  in  earnest. 

"  Certainly,"  says  she.     "  Why  not?     I  will  cor- 
rect your  grammar  and  your  spelling." 

She  could  do  it,  too,  could  Elizabeth.     Praise  to 
the  face  is  open  disgrace,  perhaps,  as  they  say,  but 


IV  Preface. 

there  is  more  to  be  thought  of.  The  reader,  whose 
confidence  we  bespeak,  has  the  right  to  know,  I 
think,  that  Elizabeth  is  graduated  from  the  Normal 
School,  and,  come  fall,  is  to  be  a  teacher.  When 
she  spoke  thus  of  correcting  her  old  father's  gram- 
mar and  spelling,  do  you  imagine  I  was  nettled? 
On  the  contrary,  it  struck  me  as  something  to  be 
proud  of,  which  I  was,  in  proper  moderation,  the 
more  as  everyone  declares  Elizabeth  is  her  father's 
girl,  for  all  of  her  having  her  mother's  hair  and 
eyes.  I  do  not  begrudge  her  mother  the  hair  and 
the  eyes,  in  the  least,  for  while  mine  answer  well 
enough  for  a  man  in  my  station,  they  are  not  such 
as  a  young  woman  with  prospects  would  wish  to 
have. 

Of  course  my  vanity  was  not  long  in  seconding 
the  girl's  motion,  and  with  only  my  slender  diffi- 
dence working  contrariwise,  they  presently  pre- 
vailed. 

I  am  writing  my  preface  last,  as  the  custom  is,  I 
believe,  but  inasmuch  as  you,  my  friend,  w^ill  likely 
read  it  first,  understand,  at  once,  that  what  you  have 
before  you  is  the  story  of  how  I,  a  bondman  to  be- 
gin with  or  what  came  to  about  that,  got  to  be  a  lord 
of  lands  at  last.  Making  a  book  of  it  has  been  no 
easy  task,  for  me,  notwithstanding  my  great  assur- 
ance, which  I  have  no  wish  to  disavow,  or  belittle 
in  respect  of  the  part  it  has  borne  in  bringing  me 
through.  Sometimes,  in  my  weariness,  even  the 
glory  of  literary  fame  would  seem  too  small  a 
recompense  for  all  the  effort,  and  I  would  be  for 
giving  up,  only  that  there  remained  with  me  the  hope 


Preface.  V 

of  becoming,  by  it,  the  means  of  liberating  other 
bondmen.  That  was  EUzabeth's  generous  concep- 
tion from  the  first. 

But  though  the  girl  and  I  are  one  as  to  the  scope 
and  purpose  of  the  work,  we  fall  apart  when  we 
come  to  the  manner  of  its  consummation.  She  has 
her  views  and  I  have  mine,  and  we  are  too  much 
alike  for  these  to  agree  except  broadly.  She  is  of 
the  opinion  that  I  have  too  much  to  say,  in  the 
book,  about  how  I  got  my  farm,  and  not  enough 
about  what  I  did  with  it  thereafter. 

"  Any  fool,"  says  she,  with  a  touch  of  scorn  that 
accuses  her  youth  and  inexperience,  for  I  will  not 
admit  there  is  anything  wrong  with  her  heart, 
"  can  get  a  farm." 

''  Pardon  me,"  says  I,  for  I  have  a  firmness,  even 
where  I  know  I  am  wrong,  and  where  I  know  I  am 
right,  I  am  adamant.  "  Any  fool,"  says  I,  "  except 
the  poor  fool,  the  fool  cast  away  in  a  great  city,  the 
fool  who  has  worked  for  wages  till  the  habit  is 
grained  into  him  and  he  has  almost  no  initiative  for 
enterprise." 

My  message,  if  I  have  any,  while  I  shall  be  very 
glad  if  others  read  it  and  find  a  hint  in  it,— my  mes- 
sage, I  say,  is  for  the  man  who  is  what  I  was,  the 
man  to  whom  it  will  but  hardly  occur  that  oppor- 
tunity has  anything  for  him,  and  I  believe  I  know 
what  part  of  my  story  will  interest  him  especially. 
He  would  not  thank  me  to  omit  to  tell  him  how  I 
took  heart  of  grace,  how  I  plucked  up  courage  and 
went  in  pursuit  of  opportunity  to  see  what  she  had 
for  me,  and  all  that  came  of  it,— he  would  not  thank 


vi  Preface. 

me,  I  repeat,  were  I  to  leave  these  things  out,  in 
order  to  mock  him  with  a  bookful  of  disquisitions 
on  the  art  of  agricuhure.  The  press  sweats  tracts 
and  treatises  on  farming,  many  of  them  excellent, 
all  of  them  better,  I  daresay,  than  anything  I  could 
write  in  that  line,  and  they  will  show  him  the  way, 
once  he  has  the  will.  But  for  the  present  they  seem 
to  him  to  treat  of  a  country  far  off  and  inaccessible, 
for  the  lack  of  the  kindred  touch  which  it  is  my 
dearest  wish  to  supply  with  this  recital  of  my  hum- 
ble experience.  If  I  have  made  much  of  my  trials 
in  the  beginning,  and  what  they  sprung  from,  it  is 
in  order  that  you,  my  friend,  may  recognize  me  as 
one  of  your  own  kind,  and  not  think  of  me  as  but 
another  preacher  talking  down  at  you  from  a 
pulpit. 

And  when,  having  followed  the  course  by  which 
I  became  a  lord  of  lands,  I  enter  somewhat  into  the 
details  of  husbandry,  it  is  not  to  set  up  fingerboards, 
bidding  you  to  go  and  do  likewise.  Still  my  mes- 
sage is  for  my  people,  that  vast  majority  of  mankind 
who  have  it  not  in  them  ever  to  be  rich,  who  are 
bound,  as  by  an  inexorable  fate,  to  be  forever  poor, 
and  now  the  burden  of  it  is  that  there's  a  better 
place  to  be  poor  in  than  the  city,  a  place  where 
poverty  does  not  necessarily  spell  misery,  and  may 
be  made  to  spell  something  very  like  comfort. 


A    LORD     OF     LANDS. 

CHAPTER  I. 

When  Ludovika,  my  wife,  presented  me  with  a 
fifth  child  and  a  fourth  daughter,  it  set  me  to  think- 
ing very  soberly,  more  soberly,  in  all  probability, 
than  I  had  ever  thought  for  any  length  of  time  in  all 
my  life  before,  although  I  was  always  by  my  nature 
inclined  to  be  of  a  serious  mind,  as  men  go.  My 
wages  were  fifty  dollars  a  month,  and  that  circum- 
stance was  the  pivot,  so  to  speak,  round  which  my 
meditations  revolved.  With  seven  mouths  to  feed, 
and  seven  backs  to  clothe,  to  say  nothing  of  the  needs 
of  the  seven  souls  which  are  most  important  of  all, 
but  are  all  too  easy  to  neglect  and  forget,  ow- 
ing to  their  having  no  way  of  crying  out,  as  do 
bodily  needs, — with  all  these,  I  say,  fifty  dollars 
a  month  looked  woefully  small  to  me,  that  day,  and 
with  every  day  following  it  dwindled  more  and 
more,  for  now  that  I  was  thinking  soberly,  every 
day  I  bethought  me  of  some  new  demand  likely  to 
fall  upon  my  slender  income.  Seven  dollars  a  month 
for  each  of  us,  to  strike  the  average,  with  a  dollar 
over  for  the  general  good,  meant  but  one  thing,  and 


2  A  Lord  of  Lands. 

that  thing  was  pinching,  and  no  light  pinching  at 
that.  Already,  with  only  six  of  us,  we  had  been 
cutting  to  the  quick,  and  now  the  knife  must  go 
in  deeper,  let  the  hurt  be  what  it  would.  Further- 
more, the  end  was  not  yet.  For  Ludovika  was 
barely  turned  thirty. 

Not  that  I  was  sorry  for  what  had  come  to  pass. 
On  the  contrary,  I  was  glad  when  the  child  was 
born,  and  for  the  moment  forgot  everything  else  in 
the  joy  and  pride  of  fatherhood,  notwithstanding 
that  the  sweet  taste  of  these  was  by  no  means 
new  to  me.  I  was  ready  to  cry  when  they  laid  the 
little  new  girl  in  my  arms,  I  w^as  that  overcome  with 
the  thought  of  the  blessedness  of  it  all,  and  I 
kissed  Ludovika  with  every  feeling  of  gratitude. 
It  may  be  that  I  wished,  for  the  briefest  instant, 
as  was  only  natural,  that  it  had  been  a  man  child, 
what  with  our  already  having  but  one  such  as 
against  three  of  the  other  sex,  but  in  another 
instant  I  was  quite  content  on  that  head.  For 
while  it  may  be  that  girls  are  more  expensive 
by  reason  of  their  dress  and  all  that,  on  the  other 
hand  boys  have  their  drawbacks,  notably,  their  wild 
and  raucous  ways  as  the  man  begins  to  stir  in  them, 
whereby  they  keep  their  fathers  awake  nights,  if  no 
worse.  There  comes  into  my  mind  an  appropriate 
sentiment  often  quoted  to  me  in  my  young  days,  but 
not  oftener,  I  fear,  than  my  conduct  furnished  the 
ample  text  for  it : 

"  "What  are  little  boys  made  of  ? 

Shrimps  and  snails  and  puppy-dogs*  tails, 
That's  what  little  boys  are  made  of. 


A  Lord  of  Lands.  3 

"  What  are  little  girls  made  of  ? 

Sugar  and  spice  and  everything  nice, 
That's  what  little  girls  are  made  of." 

In  the  time  of  it,  this  struck  me  as  the  very  height  of 
folly,  and  even  now  I  conceive  that  the  poet  has 
aimed  rather  at  breadth  of  suggestion  than  at  strin- 
gent accuracy,  but  withal  there  is  much  truth  in  it. 
Girls  are  sure  a  great  comfort,  with  their  sweet- 
ness and  their  gentleness,  and  their  aptitude  for  gig- 
gling at  nothing.  I  often  ask  myself,  what  would 
this  gray  old  world  be,  had  girls  not  been  endowed 
by  a  wise  Providence  with  this  happy  faculty  of 
giggling  gratuitously,  with  nothing  whatsoever  to 
giggle  over? 

About  this  time,  one  of  them  a  little  before  and 
the  other  a  little  after,  there  came  drifting  my  way, 
on  the  turbid  stream  which  flows  higher  and  higher 
from  the  unwearying  press,  two  bits  of  print,  the  one 
to  raise  up  in  me  a  great  carking  doubt,  the  other  to 
lay  this,  in  some  measure,  with  good  hope;  or,  to 
speak  more  justly,  the  one  to  arouse  me  to  a  sense  of 
my  duty,  and  the  other  to  show  me  how  that  duty 
might  be  done.  They  were  both  messages  of  good 
import,  though  the  former  of  them  seemed  anything 
but  that  in  its  day,  a  very  trial  sent  to  vex  me. 

It  was  an  article  of  some  length,  of  the  kind  I 
seldom  read  in  those  days,  having  no  such  fondness 
for  solid  matter  as  my  good  luck  put  me  in  the  way 
of  acquiring  later,  and  it  had  to  do  with  a  most  un- 
pleasant discovery.  Some  wise  fellow,  whose  name 
I  altogether  forget,  ahhough  I  have  it  distinctly  in 
mind  that  he  was  a  doctor  of  philosophy  and  there- 


4  A  Lord  of  Lands. 

fore  not  to  be  thrust  aside  lightly,  with  his  theories, 
had  been  looking  into  the  matter  with  close  attention 
and  had  found  that  three  persons  out  of  every  ten 
residing  in  the  city  of  London  never  knew  what  it 
was,  from  one  year's  end  to  another,  to  have  enough 
to  eat.  Will  you  think  of  that  ?  The  larger  part  of 
these  unfortunates  had  resources,  greater  or  less, 
but  their  income,  as  the  w^ise  fellow  phrased  it,  had, 
notwithstanding,  fallen  below  the  line  of  subsistence. 
They  managed,  by  hook  or  by  crook,  to  get  enough 
food  to  keep  body  and  soul  together,  and  that  was 
all.  They  were  saved  from  dying,  barely,  and  never 
in  any  true  sense  nourished.  Their  food  was  suffi- 
cient to  keep  the  vital,  vegetable  functions  going,  in 
the  most  languid  way,  while  the  truly  human  func- 
tions starved  and  became  to  all  intents  and  purposes 
extinct.  And  worst  of  all  there  were  the  children, 
for  these  people  bred  like  red  ants,  till  their  quarters 
swarmed  with  young,  born  to  a  heritage  of  disease 
and  starvation,  doomed  to  grow  up  stunted  in  body, 
darkened  in  mind,  their  souls  like  the  fire  that  has 
sunk  to  the  last  smouldering  spark  for  lack  of  fuel. 
It  was  horrible,  and  horriblest  of  all  was  their 
apathy,  their  sheer  inability  even  to  hope  for  better 
things,  their  utter  lack  of  resolution  to  struggle 
against  their  fate.  Their  hunger,  never  appeased, 
had  at  last  gnawed  the  very  heart  out  of  them,  and 
the  leaven  which  makes  men  rise  was  dead  in  them, 
past  any  possibility  of  resurrection.  To  feed  them, 
now,  however  bountifully,  would  avail  no  more  than 
to  fatten  their  bodies,  and  leave  their  souls  un- 
touched.   There  was  no  fiber  left  in  them  to  build  on. 


A   Lord  of  Lands.  5 

They  were  more  hopelessly  alienated  from  the  birth- 
right of  mankind  made  in  the  image  of  God  than 
the  veriest  savages  of  the  forest. 

But  it  was  when  the  wise  fellow  came  to  the  why 
and  the  wherefore,  mincing  matters  not  at  all,  that 
he  laid  hold  of  me  especially,  and  left  me  in  a  cold 
sweat  of  terror.  We  will  begin  (quoth  he)  with  a 
sturdy,  brave  young  fellow,  with  about  all  the  good 
qualities  that  mark  the  Englishman,  able  to  earn 
twenty  shillings  a  week,  a  very  large  wage,  in  Lon- 
don. He  marries,  in  due  time,  as  all  young  men  are 
by  their  nature  bound  to  do,  and  in  due  time  he 
begets  children,  a  brood  of  sons  and  daughters,  to 
replenish  the  earth.  But  all  the  while,  mind  you,  his 
wage  is  twenty  shillings,  or,  anyway,  no  more.  He 
is  fortunate  above  his  fellows  if  he  gets  so  much.  It 
is  enough  and  to  spare  for  himself  alone.  It  is 
enough  and  to  spare  for  himself  and  his  wife,  but 
the  time  comes,  with  his  family  growing,  when  there 
is  nothing  to  spare,  and  then  at  last  the  time  when 
the  wage  is  not  enough.  The  income  has  fallen  be- 
low the  line  of  subsistence,  and  there  is  no  help  for 
it.  The  man  fights  against  the  inevitable,  in  vain, 
and  he  and  his  join  the  host  of  starvelings.  Where 
there  is  one  man  who  can  earn  twenty  shillings,  in 
London,  there  are  hundreds  who  cannot,  though 
they  work  their  fingers  to  the  bone,  and  all  the  time 
there  is  marrying  and  giving  in  marriage,  and  chil- 
dren come  to  the  poor  as  they  come  to  no  others. 

I  tell  you  it  made  my  blood  run  cold,  for  I  could 
not  help  but  see  that  here,  in  all  essentials,  was  a 
pretty  accurate  description  of  my  own  fix.     True,  I 


6  A  Lord  of  Lands. 

was  earning  more  than  twenty  shillings  a  week.  I 
looked  up  the  table  of  sterling  money  in  the  chil- 
dren's arithmetic,  and  figured  out,  in  a  rough  way, 
that  my  wage  came  to  about  fifty  shillings  a  week, 
but  what  comfort  was  there  in  that  ?  All  things  con- 
sidered, perhaps  it  had  no  greater  power  of  purchase 
than  the  twenty  shillings,  and  whether  or  no,  I  had 
none  the  less  my  line  of  subsistence,  steadily  rising, 
as  my  family  grew,  while  my  income  stood  still, 
waiting  for  it  to  come  up.  Putting  the  very  best  face 
on  the  matter,  and  saying  nothing  of  the  by  no 
means  remote  chance  of  my  income  falling,  these  two 
would  come  together  some  day,  and  when  they 
parted  again,  the  income  would  be  below  the  other 
and  not  above  it.  We  were  already  seven,  and 
Ludovika  in  her  prime.  If  it  was  hard  to  stub  along 
with  seven  of  us,  what  should  it  be  with  ten  of  us, 
or  twelve  of  us,  or  even  more,  for  there  was  no 
telling? 

The  line  of  subsistence  got  to  haunt  me.  I 
thought  of  little  else  by  day,  and  by  night  it  was 
with  me  in  my  dreams.  Once,  I  recall,  it  took  the 
form  of  a  line  of  hemp,  with  an  awful  noose  at  the 
end,  and  I  woke  with  a  cry  of  anguish  and  a  feeling 
in  my  neck.  It  was  not  to  be  borne,  this  prospect  of 
sinking  into  the  condition  of  hopeless  and  perpetual 
want,  as  into  a  quagmire.  I  tried  to  persuade  my- 
self that  I  was  borrowing  trouble,  but  it  was  not  to 
be  done.  I  looked  for  some  escape  in  the  fact  that 
I  was  not  a  resident  of  hideous  old  London,  but  of  a 
dean,  new  American  city,  and  found  none.  I  had 
no  wish  to  beguile  myself,  nor  could  I,  if  I  would. 


A  Lord  of  Lands.  7 

what  with  my  thorough  awakening.  There  was  no 
denying  that  I  was  a  wage-worker,  dependent  for 
my  opportunity  to  earn  a  living  on  conditions  which 
I  could  not  in  the  least  control,  with  an  income 
which  nothing  short  of  a  miracle  could  ever  increase, 
and  which  a  thousand  and  one  things  not  miraculous 
or  even  unusual  might  lessen,  and  there  was  no  deny- 
ing that  I  was  one  out  of  a  great  multitude  like  me. 
If  the  clean  new  city  held  no  submerged  tenth,  or 
three-tenths,  that  was  simply  because  we  poor  men 
had  not  as  yet  had  time  to  beget  more  children  than 
we  could  feed.  Soon  enough  there  would  be  a  sub- 
merged portion,  and  I  and  mine  would  be  of  it,  un- 
less we  got  out  of  the  current  that  was  drawing  us 
down. 

Of  course,  I  were  not  a  man,  if  I  did  not  rise  in 
some  degree  to  my  responsibilities,  now  for  the  first 
time  felt  in  all  their  weight.  Not  that  I  had  hitherto 
been  altogether  content  with  our  position,  or  blind 
to  its  dangers,  for  such  was  not  the  fact.  I  had 
thought  of  our  insecurity,  off  and  on,  not  a  little 
but  never  with  my  present  sense  of  urgency.  Now, 
at  last,  I  saw  clearly  whither  we  were  drifting,  and 
with  a  feeling  that  we  should  be  lucky  if  among  us 
we  could  muster  strength  enough  to  stem  the  fatal 
current,  I  began  casting  about  for  expedients,  not  as 
desperately  as  a  drowning  man  casts  about  for 
straws,  perhaps,  but  something  like  it. 

Ludovika  always  made  a  quick  recovery,  and 
never  quicker  than  now.  She  was  a  perfectly  healthy 
woman,  and,  moreover,  by  way  of  the  mental  stimu- 
lation which  assists  so  powerfully  in  the  mending  of 


8  A   Lord  of  Lands. 

bodily  ills,  there  was  with  her  the  thought  of  the 
girls  wasting  the  flour  in  their  cookery.  My  wife 
is  thoroughly  German,  for  which  I  have  often  and 
often  thanked  the  kind  fate  which  sent  her  my  way, 
and  in  no  respect  more  admirably  so  than  in  her  fru- 
gality. It  was  a  solace,  in  my  anxiety,  to  have  it  to 
consider  that  nobody  in  all  the  world  could  make 
fifty  dollars  go  farther  than  this  woman  who  had 
the  keeping  of  my  house.  In  two  weeks  after  the 
coming  of  the  child  she  was  up  and  about,  doing 
some  of  the  light  things  herself,  and  looking  sharply 
after  the  rest.  In  three  weeks,  she  was  about  as 
well  as  ever,  for  aught  I  could  see,  well  enough,  I 
decided,  to  hear  what  I  had  to  say.  For  I  had  been 
meditating  to  some  purpose,  alarm  having  greatly 
stimulated  my  poor  wits,  and  my  plans  had  taken 
on  such  definite  form  that  I  did  not  feel  right  in 
going  farther  without  the  consent  of  those  whom 
they  concerned,  and,  first  of  all,  my  wife. 

In  a  certain  sense,  I  was  at  needless  pains,  in  this. 
Ludovika  would  do  whatever  I  chose  to  command 
her  to  do,  barring  a  plain  wrong  or  an  impiety.  If 
she  uttered  as  much  as  word  of  protest,  it  would  be 
only  to  yield  the  sooner  in  the  end.  That  is  the  Ger- 
man way.  A  German  woman  looks  upon  it  as  a 
sacred  duty  to  obey  her  husband,  and  had  I  simply 
bidden  my  wife  to  follow  me,  follow  she  would,  and 
to  whatsoever  lot  I  should  take  her,  she  would  pa- 
tiently endure  and  make  the  best  of  it,  like  the  brave, 
cheerful  soul  she  always  was.  Possibly  a  German 
man  is  capable  of  taking  advantage  of  such 
fidelity,  but  I  was  not.    I  could  not  believe  any  great 


A   Lord   of  Lands.  9 

good  was  to  come  of  an  enterprise  entered  on  in 
that  fashion.  There  are  times  of  doubt  and  differ- 
ence when  it  behooves  the  man  of  the  house  to 
overrule  the  woman,  but  it  strikes  me  as  a  chilHng 
circumstance  when  a  wife's  heart  is  not  in  her  hus- 
band's work,  save  only  as  a  sense  of  duty  is  able  to 
master  her  heart.  No,  indeed,  not  a  step  would  I 
take,  happen  what  might,  until  I  had  Ludovika's  free 
consent. 

It  was  upon  a  Sunday  afternoon,  with  all  the 
children  who  were  old  enough  to  understand  out  of 
the  house,  and  the  coast  clear  for  a  serious  talk,  that 
I  broached  the  subject  nearest  my  heart. 

"  Ludovika,"  said  I,  *'  something  has  got  to  be 
done." 

She  was  nursing  the  infant  at  the  moment,  and 
looking  as  only  a  new  mother  can  look,  so  sweet  and 
so  happy.  I  had  begun  vaguely  enough,  as  I  fan- 
cied, with  a  view  to  coming  up  rather  gradually  to 
the  difficulties  which  I  well  knew  awaited  me,  but  she 
instantly  divined  my  mind.  When  I  spoke  she 
raised  her  eyes,  with  the  sweetness  and  the  happiness 
all  fled  from  them,  and  her  look  smote  me. 

**  I  know  what  you're  coming  at,  Matthew  Fitz- 
gerald," she  said.  "  You're  going  to  say  we  should 
leave  the  town  and  go  and  live  on  a  farm  some- 
where. I  shall  die  if  you  take  me  to  live  on  a  farm. 
I  would  rather  be  dead  than  live  on  a  farm." 

I  might  have  been  thunderstruck  by  this,  and  put 
completely  out  of  my  resolution,  only  that  I  was 
looking  for  it,  or  something  like  it,  though  not  so 
soon.     Of  the  difficulties  lying  in  the  way  of  my 


lo  A  Lord  of  Lands. 

project,  all  too  plainly  foreseen,  this  of  my  wife's 
unwillingness  was  by  no  means  the  least.  She  was 
perfectly  right  in  her  conjecture,  for  what  I  had 
in  purpose  was  indeed  nothing  less  than  that  we 
quit  the  city  and  become  farmers.  And  it  was  no 
new  subject  between  us.  At  various  times,  in  a 
more  or  less  casual  way,  I  had  ventured  to  suggest 
that  we  would  be  better  off  living  on  a  farm,  and 
invariably  to  call  forth,  by  way  of  reply,  some  such 
sentiment  of  opposition,  although  less  vehemently 
put.  I  was  not  surprised,  therefore,  except  by  the 
suddenness  of  it,  and  the  note  of  desperation,  per- 
haps, which  I  could  ascribe  in  part  to  the  effect  of 
the  great  nervous  shock  she  had  lately  sustained. 
Of  course  I  did  not  at  all  believe  that  any  sensible 
woman  in  whom  the  love  of  life  was  strong,  would 
rather  be  dead  than  live  on  a  farm,  or  anywhere  else, 
for  that  matter.  That  was  only  Ludovika's  way  of 
expressing  her  strong  disapproval.  Never,  hitherto, 
had  I  pressed  her  much  with  argument,  for  until 
now  the  matter  had  not  seemed  to  me  of  such  vital 
moment.  But  to-day  I  was  mightily  in  earnest,  and 
resolved  to  have  it  out. 

"  We  are  seven,"  said  I.  "  Fifty  dollars  a  month 
has  not  proved  any  too  much  for  six.  There  may 
be  even  more  than  seven  of  us,  yet." 

"  Please  God !  "  said  Ludovika,  devoutly. 

"  What  shall  we  do,  when  we  are  more  ?  "  said 
I,  and  with  this  I  saw  her  eyes  opening  very  wide, 
as  they  always  did  when  she  was  disturbed. 

"  We  will  take  a  cheaper  house,"  she  said,  after  a 
little,  and  rather  faintly. 


A  Lord  of  Lands.  1 1 

"  The  house  we  Hve  in  has  only  three  rooms," 
said  I.  "'  The  children  are  getting  too  large  to 
sleep  all  in  one  room,  and  if  we  were  to  have  but 
two  rooms,  in  all,  how  should  we  manage?  '* 

"  Richard  is  indeed  twelve,"  said  Ludovika, 
evasively,  with  a  ring  of  motherly  pride. 

Richard  is  our  oldest.  Ludovika  speaks  his  name 
in  the  German  fashion,  with  the  hard  sound,  as  if 
it  were  Rickard,  and  with  the  stress  at  the  end 
of  the  word  instead  of  the  beginning.  I  call  him 
Richy,  which  is  the  Irish  way,  and  good  enough  for 
me. 

"  Yes,"  said  I,  proud  myself,  but  not  to  be 
beguiled  into  changing  the  subject.  ''  Richy  is 
twelve,  and  the  town  is  no  place  for  a  boy  of  twelve." 

"  Indeed !  "  said  Ludovika,  pretty  tartly,  for  her. 
"  And  why  not,  pray?  " 

"  Well,  the  temptations,"  said  I,  in  some  uncer- 
tainty, for  I  had  spoken  without  rightly  considering 
how  I  might  justify  myself,  if  called  on.  "  The 
countless  temptations,  and  pitfalls  laid  for  his  feet." 

"  The  temptations,"  said  Ludovika,  stoutly,  "  are 
what  will  make  a  man  of  him." 

"  If  they  don't  make  a  devil  of  him,"  said  I, 
for  I  had  to  hold  up  my  end  of  the  argument, 
although  in  my  heart  I  was  about  convinced  that 
the  woman  had  the  right  of  it.  Sure  the  boy  would 
never  be  a  man  without  some  trial  of  his  manhood. 
I  thought  it  prudent,  on  the  whole,  to  shift  my 
ground  a  bit. 

*'  Anyway,"  said  I,  "  the  city  is  no  place  for  the 
girls." 


12  A   Lord  of  Lands. 

Ludovika  flared  up,  fairly,  at  this. 

"  Never  you  fear  for  the  girls,"  she  said.  "  The 
girls  will  be  good  girls  anywhere  you  put  them. 
What  for  a  father  are  you  to  be  doubting  your  chil- 
dren without  cause?" 

Very  clearly,  I  was  not  going  to  make  out  much 
persuading  my  wife  unless  I  should  find  some  more 
practicable  way  of  approach,  and  I  dropped  the 
children. 

"  Ludovika,  woman,"  I  said,  summoning  my 
solemnest  manner,  "  this  is  not  a  matter  of  senti- 
ment, but  of  bread  and  butter,  by  which  I  mean  the 
commonest  necessities  of  life,  leaving  out  all  the 
frills  and  furbelows.  Fm  not  earning  enough  to 
feed  the  family  we  already  have,  as  they  should  be 
fed,  let  alone  the  family  we  are  like  enough  to  have 
before  we  are  done." 

"  You  will  be  foreman,  some  day,"  she  said, 
promptly,  and  with  an  air  of  conviction  which  gave 
me  a  thrill  of  pride,  while  it  hurt  me,  too,  for  as  a 
man  rejoices  to  have  his  wife  look  up  to  him,  and 
expect  great  things  of  him,  so  it  is  most  unpleasant 
for  him  to  think  of  having  to  dash  her  high  expecta- 
tions and  chill  her  respect. 

I  was  a  switchman,  by  trade,  and  what  Ludovika 
meant  was  that  I  should  some  day  become  the  boss 
of  a  crew,  and  earn  seventy  or  eighty  dollars  a 
month.  She  was  fond  of  predicting  that  I  should  be 
foreman,  all  in  good  time,  and  I  was  fond  of  having 
her,  and  had  always  let  her  go  on  without  hindrance. 
If  in  that  I  had  deceived  her,  I  had  likewise  deceived 
myself.     I  had  never  doubted,  until  now,  that  my 


A   Lord  of  Lands.  13 

being  a  foreman  some  day  lay  well  within  the  possi- 
bilities, to  say  the  least,  but  in  the  three  weeks  of  m}^ 
hard,  sober  thinking,  I  had,  as  I  say,  got  new  light. 
I  had  thoroughly  undeceived  myself,  and  now  I 
should  undeceive  Ludovika. 

"  Listen  to  me,"  I  said,  with  an  effort  to  be  calm, 
for  no  man  finds  it  easy  to  disparage  himself,  how- 
ever he  may  pretend  to  the  contrary.  "  I  shall  never 
be  foreman,  though  I  live  to  be  a  thousand  years  old. 
Only  one  man  in  fifty  ever  gets  to  be  foreman,  in 
my  business,  and  I  am  in  all  things  one  of  the  forty- 
nine." 

It  was  verily  a  blow  to  her.  She  stared  at  me 
with  her  widest  eyes,  to  see  if  I  was  in  earnest,  and 
when  my  look  left  her  no  room  to  doubt  that  I 
was,  she  breathed  hard  for  a  little,  and  the  tears 
came,  and  she  broke  forth  into  such  a  sputtering  of 
tempery  things  as  quite  amazed  me,  although  I 
was  well  aware  she  meant  none  of  them,  in  her 
heart.  It  was  her  chagrin,  of  course,  and  the 
ordeal  she  had  just  gone  through,  and  I  could 
not  blame  her.  But  I  conceived  that  I  had  gone 
far  enough  with  the  business,  for  the  first  sitting. 
There  was  danger  of  pushing  her,  in  such  a  degree 
of  warmth,  to  take  a  position  which,  however 
she  might  regret  it  in  a  cooler  moment,  the  common 
pride  of  the  fiesh  would  never  let  her  back  down 
from.     So  I  said  no  more,  then,  but  bided  my  time. 

We  had  no  chance  to  talk  week  days,  more  than 
to  chat  a  little,  about  the  commonplaces  of  life,  for 
I  was  away  at  my  work  from  morning  until  night, 
and  came  home  that  tired  there  was  no  lying  awake 


14  A  Lord  of  Lands. 

for  anything,  and  it  was  Sunday  again  before  we 
came  back  to  the  matter.  In  the  meantime, 
Ludovika  was  thinking,  for  herself,  as  anybody  could 
see.  My  telling  her,  in  such  a  way  that  she  could 
not  doubt  it,  that  I  was  never  to  be  foreman,  never 
anything  more  than  a  common  switchman,  this  had 
cut  a  good  bit  of  ground  out  from  under  her  feet,  and 
now  she  was  casting  about  for  a  new  place  to  stand. 
There  was  really  no  call  for  me  to  put  in  a  word. 
Even  if  the  opportunity  had  offered,  I  should  not 
have  spoken  to  her  of  my  plan  before  a  week  had 
passed,  for  I  should  simply  have  distressed  her  to 
no  purpose,  and  at  the  risk  of  renewing  her  resent- 
ment, if  such  it  could  be  called.  I  knew  the  perfect 
honesty  of  her  heart,  and  how  that  she  would  choose 
to  look  the  situation  fairly  in  the  face,  even  though 
she  should  not  come,  without  leading,  to  my  way  of 
thinking. 

When  it  was  Sunday  afternoon  once  more,  and 
the  older  children  out  of  the  way,  for  it  was  not  yet 
time  to  take  them  into  the  matter,  and  the  woman 
sitting  with  the  infant  at  her  breast,  I  saw  that  she 
expected  me  to  speak. 

''  Ludovika,"  said  I,  "  tell  me,  if  you  please,  what 
you  have  against  living  in  the  country?  " 

Of  course  I  knew  what  she  had  against  it,  but  I 
had  a  purpose  in  drawing  her  out.  I  wished  to 
observe  to  what  extent,  if  any,  her  recent  considera- 
tion had  affected  her  point  of  view. 

"  It's  the  loneliness,  Matthew,"  she  said,  with 
a  deep  sigh.  '*  Here  in  the  town  there  are  many 
things  I  would  have  otherwise,   God  willing,  but 


A   Lord  of  Lands.  15 

there  is  always  the  relief  of  something  going  on, 
and  somebody  to  be  with.  Here,  at  least,  we  have 
the  comfort  of  human  company.  It  is  an  awful 
thing  for  beings  to  have  to  live  apart  from  their 
kind.  You  may  say  that  the  blessings  of  the  city  are 
none  of  them  for  us  who  are  so  poor,  but  still  there 
is  something  which  even  we  may  enjoy.  It  is  the 
variety,  I  think,  and  the  company.  I  do  not  know^ 
how  to  speak  what  I  mean,  but  there  is  something 
here  to  make  life  worth  living.  It  is  true  I  have  no 
money  to  spend,  but  at  any  time  I  can  go  out  and 
meet  with  many  people,  and  if  I  cannot  buy  the 
goods  in  the  stores,  I  can  go  in  and  see  them.  There 
is  always  something  to  look  forward  to.  God  made 
me  a  woman,  Matthew.  I  cannot  make  myself 
over." 

Then  the  tears  came  afresh,  and  they  were  not  all 
Ludovika's  tears,  by  any  means.  Do  you  know, 
every  word  of  that  wandering,  rambling  speech  of 
hers  seemed  to  find  a  chord  in  my  own  heart?  It 
may  not  strike  you  as  much  of  an  argument,  but  it 
was  near  to  carrying  me.  Only  that  I  was  deter- 
mined not  to  waver,  and  had  steeled  myself,  I  had 
been  staggered. 

"  Beggars  can't  be  choosers,"  I  said,  conquering 
my  emotion,  after  a  little. 

"  We  are  not  beggars,"  said  she,  simply.  "  We 
shall  never  beg,  even  though  we  starve." 

Whether  it  w^as  her  resolute,  confident  way  or 
what  not,  I  could  feel  that  with  every  reply  she  was 
gaining  a  species  of  ascendancy  over  me,  as  if, 
with  all  my  advantage  as  regards  logic,  she  was 


1 6  A   Lord   of  Lands. 

morally,  so  to  speak,  too  much  for  me.  If  I  shook 
it  off,  and  rose  to  the  occasion,  I  assure  you  it 
was  no  easy  thing  to  do. 

"  We  are  poor,"  I  said,  "  and  in  that  sense  beg- 
gars. And  what  does  it  signify  to  be  poor?  It 
signifies  that  we  have  got  to  give  up  something, 
nay,  much,  whatsoever  way  we  turn.  Poverty 
means  sacrifice,  and  yet  again  sacrifice.  For  such 
as  we,  there  is  vouchsafed  only  a  choice  of  evils. 
To  go  and  live  in  the  country  would  put  a  great 
sacrifice  upon  us,  as  we  both  know,  you  no  better 
than  I,  but  what  about  the  sacrifice  it  puts  upon  us 
to  stay  in  the  city?  We  should  choose  the  lesser 
evil,  I  think,  in  so  far  as  we  are  able  to  measure  the 
one  against  the  other.  Here  in  town  we  shall  have 
plenty  of  company,  but  too  little  food.  In  the 
country  we  should  lack  company,  perhaps,  but  we 
should  have  enough  to  eat.  Will  all  the  company  in 
the  world  supply  a  deficiency  of  bodily  nourishment? 
Are  company,  and  variety,  comforts  though  they 
undoubtedly  are,  worth  starving  for?  ** 
"  Man  does  not  live  by  bread  alone." 
"  But  he  cannot  live  without  bread." 
"  We  never  have  lacked  bread,  Matthew.  The 
Lord  will  provide.  He  sees  the  sparrow  fall,  and 
He  will  not  forget  us.  It  is  wicked  in  us  to  have 
doubts  of  His  providence." 

"  Very  well,  then.  How  does  the  Lord  provide 
for  the  millions  in  London  who  never  know  what  it 
is  to  have  enough  to  eat?  The  Lord's  ways  are  a 
great  mystery,  as  all  admit,  even  those  who  claim  to 
know  the  most  about  them.     Perhaps  He  has  some- 


A   Lord   of  Lands.  17 

thing  waiting  in  the  hereafter  for  these  wretched 
people,  which  will  repay  them  for  all  their  sufferings 
in  the  present  life,  but  just  the  same  I  cannot  believe 
the  Lord  ever  intended  me  to  starve  if  I  can  help 
it.  He  intended  me  to  feed  myself  and  the  family 
He  has  given  to  my  care.  I  take  it  to  be  His  will 
that  we  look  ahead,  and  save  ourselves  from 
want  by  our  own  providence,  while  yet  we  have 
the  spirit  for  it,  not  waiting  till  want  shall  have 
crushed  the  heart  out  of  us  and  left  us  hopeless  and 
helpless." 

I  will  confess  that  this  sounded  more  like  a 
sermon  than  what  I  had  meant  to  say,  besides  being 
none  too  clear,  but  it  proved  fit  to  the  purpose  I 
had  in  view.  Ludovika  wiis  visibly  afifected  by  it, 
as  she  was  ever  apt  to  be  by  any  discourse  of  a 
pious  tenor,  having  the  temper,  and  the  fact  of  her 
seldom  hearing  anything  of  the  kind  out  of  me  was 
not  likely  to  render  it  any  the  less  impressive.  She 
looked  up  at  me,  for  I  had  risen  to  my  feet  in  my 
earnestness,  in  a  bewildered,  yielding  way,  with  the 
air  of  reaching  out,  as  it  were,  for  a  guiding  hand. 

''  I'm  a  wom.an,  Matthew,"  was  all  she  could  make 
out  to  say,  and  I  saw  the  moment  had  come  for 
me  to  lead  out  my  high  cards. 

"  Think,"  said  I,  "  of  having  fresh  eggs  and  fresh 
butter,  and  buckwheat  with  no  sawdust  in  it,  and 
strawberries  ripened  on  their  vines  and  not  in  an 
ice-house,  and  real  cream,  and  a  fat  goose  just  as 
often  as  you  wish  for  it." 

I  cannot  admit  for  a  moment  that  this  was  a  base 
or  unworthy  argument.  A  liking  for  good  things 
2 


1 8  A  Lord  of  Lands. 

to  eat  is  no  reproach  to  anybody,  least  of  all  to  the 
mother  of  a  family.  I  have  read  somewhere,  or 
been  told  by  somebody,  that  the  Emperor  of  Germany 
chose  his  wife  because  of  her  wholesome  appetite, 
which  she  had  the  good  sense  not  to  try  to  conceal 
even  though  she  knew  herself  to  be  under  inspection, 
and  if  he  did  so,  he  was  kind  to  his  children.  I 
know  not  how  much  our  babies  owe  to  Ludovika 
never  having  missed  a  meal,  not  even  breakfast,  but 
I  am  convinced  that  it  is  a  very  great  deal.  A 
heritage  of  heartiness  is  more  to  be  desired  than  a 
heritage  of  lands  and  cattle,  though  the  two  together 
are  no  doubt  better  than  either  alone,  and  heartiness 
seems  to  be  one  of  the  things  which  children  get 
from  their  mother,  or  not  at  all.  It  was  to  no 
unworthy  motive,  then,  that  I  made  appeal,  with  the 
opportune  mention  of  these  comestibles,  and  it  was 
with  no  misgivings,  or  the  least  feeling  of  having 
taken  a  guilty  advantage  of  her,  that  I  beheld 
Ludovika's  reluctance  melting  fast  before  the 
thought  of  such  felicities. 

"  Goose  is  the  best  of  all,"  she  faltered,  in  a  weak 
way,  and  with  a  certain  movement  of  the  muscles  of 
the  throat  which  have  to  do  with  swallowing,  show- 
ing her  to  be  most  powerfully  affected. 

Hereupon,  all  things  seeming  to  favor,  I  played 
my  trump. 

"  Ludovika,  woman,"  I  said,  "  listen  to  me.  If 
you  were  to  have  fifteen  families  with  you  in  the 
country,  the  fifteen  you  like  best,  living  as  near  you 
as  they  live  here,  and  nearer,  for  that  matter,  would 
not  this  serve  to  take  off  the  curse  of  loneliness,  in  a 


A  Lord  of  Lands.  19 

great  measure?  Would  it  not  afford  you  enough 
human  company  to  make  Hfe  tolerable?" 

She  opened  her  great  blue  eyes  the  widest  I  ever 
saw  them,  I  think,  unless  it  should  be  when,  long 
years  ago,  I  asked  her  would  she  have  me  (she 
was  always  that  simple  and  unsuspecting,  and  down- 
right surprised  by  things  which  any  other  woman 
would  know  could  not  help  but  happen),  anyway, 
most  wonderful  wide,  until  it  seemed  to  me  I  could 
look  her  through  and  through  and  read  every 
thought  in  her  dear,  faithful  heart.  Had  she  been  an 
Irish  woman,  such  as  I  had  always  the  wish  to  marry 
until  I  met  with  her,  having  a  partiality  for  their 
liveliness  and  smart  ways,  she  would  have  laughed 
in  my  face,  now,  and  more  likely  than  not  moved  me 
to  temper,  and  brought  on  a  spat.  But  Ludovika 
never  laughed  at  me,  to  make  fun  of  me,  never  in  the 
world.  I  could  see  there  was  a  very  great  perplexity 
in  her  mind,  but  back  of  this  a  confidence  in  me,  such 
as  made  me  feel  as  proud  as  a  king,  and  most  anxious 
to  deserve  it. 

But  she  could  not  speak,  only  stare  at  me,  with 
her  wide  eyes. 

"Think  about  it,  Ludovika,  woman,"  I  said. 
"  Take  plenty  of  time.  Pick  out  the  fifteen  families 
which  you  would  like  best  to  have  for  your  near 
neighbors,  and  when  you've  got  your  list  all  made 
up,  just  as  you  wish  it,  we'll  have  another  talk 
over  it." 

Just  a  little  she  wavered,  now. 

"You're  not  joking,  Matthew?"  she  said,  quite 


20  A  Lord  of  Lands. 

hesitating  and  timid  like,  for  fear  of  seeming 
disloyal  and  undutiful. 

'*  Never  in  all  my  life  was  I  more  serious,"  I 
said.  "  It's  a  matter,  if  not  of  life  and  death,  at  any 
rate  of  happiness  and  unhappiness,  which  are  perhaps 
as  important.  It  is  something  to  go  about  cheer- 
fully, but  nothing  to  joke  about." 

She  took  me  at  my  word,  and  the  strangeness  of 
it  all  gave  rise  to  no  more  doubts,  with  her.  In  the 
days  which  followed,  her  thoughts  were  busy  with 
her  list,  choosing  as  I  had  bidden  her  choose,  in  the 
best  of  good  faith.  She  was  ever  a  silent  person,  as 
compared  w^ith  myself,  anyway,  but  it  was  all  but 
impossible  for  her  to  conceal  a  thought,  with  her 
great  eyes  speaking  out  so  plainly  to  such  as  in  the 
least  understood  her.  In  these  days  she  had  even 
less  to  say  than  usual,  and  nothing  but  the  com- 
monplaces of  everyday,  but  I  knew  what  was  going 
on  in  her  mind  about  as  well  as  if  she  had  chattered 
incessantly.  Sometimes  it  seemed  to  me  that  I 
could  almost  catch  the  names  of  the  people  she  was 
considering,  merely  by  watching  her  face. 

I  was  very  careful,  on  my  part,  to  say  nothing 
which  should  seem  to  suggest  a  choice,  or  lay  any 
constraint  upon  her,  but  I  managed  at  least  as  often 
as  every  day  to  put  in  a  word  or  so  which  should 
discover  my  very  deep  interest  in  what  she  was  do- 
ing, for  this,  I  surmised,  would  have  the  effect  of 
sustaining  her,  and  keeping  her  at  the  business, 
which  might  otherwise  get  to  appear  bootless,  since 
she  knew  not  the  whole  purpose  and  meaning  of  it, 
as  yet. 


A   Lord  of  Lands.  2i 

It  is  true  that  Germans  think  rather  slowly,  but 
they  think  to  some  purpose,  and  when  they  are  done, 
they  have  solid  ground  to  stand  on.  An  Irish 
woman  would  have  made  up  her  mind  in  half  the 
time,  or  less,  and  known  her  mind  something  like 
half  as  well,  at  last. 


CHAPTER  11. 

When  the  passing  of  a  week  had  brought  another 
Sabbath  of  rest,  Ludovika  laid  before  me  a  remnant 
of  the  grocer's  wrapping  paper  written  over  with 
names,  in  her  neat,  plain  hand,  for  I  will  say  that 
her  writing,  though  done  with  no  great  speed,  is  like 
print  to  read.  Nor  is  it  devoid  of  ornament, 
especially  as  regards  the  capitals.  Germans  use 
capitals  very  freely,  and  from  this  they  naturally 
derive  a  facility  and  a  style  in  making  them.  Writ- 
ing is  hard  work,  for  me,  and  the  results  far  from 
rising  to  a  just  proportion  with  the  effort.  There 
are  some  things  which,  if  a  man  has  neglected  to 
learn  them  when  he  was  of  the  age  for  learning,  he 
may  pick  up  afterwards,  by  setting  himself  resolutely 
about  it,  but  writing,  I  fear,  is  not  one  of  them. 
Had  I  rightly  apprehended  the  mere  manual  labor 
involved  in  writing  a  book,  I  should  have  been 
appalled  by  it,  and  so  toilsome  has  the  business 
proved,  though  I  am  no  farther  on  than  the  second 
chapter,  that  I  am  sure  I  shall  be  content  with  hav- 
ing written  one  book,  without  ever  undertaking 
another. 

But  to  come  back  to  Ludovika,  it  was  not  the  list 
which  she  was  submitting,  but  rather  the  material 
for  a  Hst,  the  list  in  the  raw,  so  to  speak.     She  had 


A  Lord  of  Lands.  23 

come  to  a  point  of  perplexity  where  she  had  to  be 
assisted  to  a  choice,  being  unable  to  choose  for  her- 
self. And  first  of  all,  there  was  her  sister  Trudchen, 
as  to  whom  she  found  herself  wholly  at  a  loss. 
Should  Trudchen  be  one  of  the  fifteen,  or  should  she 
not?  Trudchen  was  Ludovika's  only  blood  relative 
in  this  country,  aside  from  her  own  children,  of 
course,  but  for  all  that,  they  were  not  distinguished 
friends.  Only  that  they  were  born  of  the  same 
parents  and  actuated,  as  Germans  especially  are,  by 
a  sense  of  family  ties,  and  the  duty  these  imply,  they 
would  never  have  been  friends  at  all.  There  was 
not  the  faintest  spark  of  natural  sympathy  between 
them.  They  were  just  enough  alike,  by  reason  of 
their  consanguinity,  to  fall  short  of  the  contrast 
which  lies  at  the  bottom  of  the  most  intimate  human 
relations,  and  at  the  same  time,  touching  those 
qualities  wherein  a  similarity  makes  for  affinity,  they 
were  as  different  as  possible.  What  their  inner 
natures  had  left  undone  by  way  of  setting  them  apart 
from  each  other,  circumstances  seemed  to  have 
conspired  to  finish,  and  not  least  the  circumstance  of 
Trudchen  being  childless.  While  it  perhaps  spoils 
a  woman's  looks  to  have  babies,  it  spoils  her  disposi- 
tion not  to  have  them,  if  I  understand  the  case  at  all. 
Trudchen's  disposition  was  rather  more  acid  than 
sugar,  to  begin  with,  and  when  we  were  so  bounti- 
fully blessed  with  offspring,  she  was  embittered  by 
it,  and  given  an  especial  spite  against  us.  All  the 
time  she  professed  to  feel  a  pity  for  Ludovika  being 
made  such  a  slave  by  her  great  family,  but  she  was 
too  plainly  disgruntled  to  deceive   anybody.      She 


24  A  Lord  of  Lands. 

took  a  real  comfort  in  our  tribulations,  and  in 
triumphing  over  us,  and  the  only  joy  she  had  in 
visiting  us  lay  in  sharply  spying  out  the  proofs  of 
our  poverty,  and  in  saying  the  unkindest  things 
under  the  guise  of  courteous   commiseration. 

In  yet  another  way  Trudchen's  childless  condition 
affected  her  eligibility,  if  that  is  the  proper  term. 
For  it  made  her  situation  wholly  different  from  ours, 
in  the  financial  sense.  She  was  married  to  a  com- 
mon laborer,  it  is  true,  and  he  never  earned  much 
more  than  a  dollar  a  day,  on  the  whole,  what  with 
being  out  of  employment  some  of  the  time,  but 
withal  their  income  was  well  above  their  line  of 
subsistence,  and  safe  against  falling  below,  since 
they  were  but  two,  and  both  sparing.  Indeed,  they 
were  relatively  well  off,  in  a  material  way,  and  by 
that  had  none  of  our  reason  for  seeking  a  new  order 
of  life,  nor  had  they  to  endure  any  privations  the 
memory  of  which  should  nerve  them  to  face  a  great 
and  hazardous  change. 

I  knew  perfectly  well  how  the  case  stood  with 
Ludovika.  She  wished  me  to  say  what  she  had  not 
the  heart  to  say  herself.  She  was  embarrassed  be- 
tween her  strong  preference  and  her  strong  sense 
of  duty,  pulling  in  opposite  directions,  and  she  looked 
to  me  to  give  her  preference  such  a  color  of  necessity 
as  should  relieve  her  of  the  unpleasant  responsibility 
laid  upon  her  by  the  ties  of  blood  and  her  deep  re- 
spect for  them.  Accordingly,  when  she  asked  me, 
first  of  all,  if  Trudchen  was  to  go  on  the  list,  I 
answered  her,  firmly,  and  as  if  my  heart  were 
unalterably  set  upon  it,  that  she  was  not,  under  any 


A   Lord  of  Lands.  25 

consideration.  It  may  seem  to  you  that  I  was  too 
masterful,  here,  but  I  am  sure  I  was  not  more  so  than 
my  wife  expected  me  to  be,  and  was  grateful  and 
relieved  to  have  me  be.  I  simply  voiced  her  mind, 
which  she  was  too  considerate  of  her  sister  to  be 
able  to  voice  herself.  I  suspect  that  it  is  not  so 
much  in  being  masterful  that  men  offend  their 
wives,  as  in  being  masterful  at  the  wrong  time. 
Your  womanly  woman  is  lacking  in  decision,  and 
she  is  disappointed  in  her  man  if  he  does  not  make 
good  her  deficiency,  as  the  occasion  arises. 

It  was  likewise  with  the  others  whom  she  had 
doubts  about.  I  decided  the  choice,  but  always  and 
only  as  I  knew  Ludovika  would  have  me  decide,  she 
herself  being  involved  in  such  a  tanglement  of  con- 
flicting considerations  as  left  her  powerless  to  choose. 
When  the  list  was  made  up,  at  length,  it  was  by  no 
means  such  a  list  as  I  would  have  chosen,  although, 
as  I  say,  the  final  choice  had  devolved  upon  me.  It 
was  Ludovika's  list,  as  I  wished  it  to  be,  with  the 
purposes  I  had  in  view.  These  people  were  to  be 
our  near  neighbors,  if  all  went  well,  mine  equally  as 
much  as  hers,  but  always  with  this  to  be  kept  in 
mind,  that  neighbors  are  more  to  a  woman  than  they 
are  to  a  man.  This  comes  partly  from  the  difference 
of  their  natures,  and  partly  from  the  division  of 
their  duties,  by  which  a  man  has  the  wider  horizon 
and  goes  farther  from  home  in  his  associations. 

However,  take  it  all  in  all,  I  was  suf^ciently  con- 
tent with  the  people.  At  all  events,  they  met  the 
rnost  important  condition,  in  that  they  and  we  were 
in  the  same  boat,  as  the  phrase  is.     In  order  to  give 


2  6  A    Lord  of  Lands. 

us  something  of  a  community  of  purpose,  there 
need  be  a  common  fate  among  us,  and  such  there 
was.  It  needed  that  all  of  us  be  poor,  though  as 
yet  untouched  by  that  direst  poverty  which  saps  all 
resolution ;  with  the  very  certain  prospect  of  a  fixed 
income,  or  fixed  at  least  in  the  sense  that  it  would 
never  be  any  greater,  and  with  a  constantly  growing 
expense  by  reason  of  new  mouths  to  feed,  in  the 
natural  and  proper  order ;  and  such  we  were.  These 
were  the  sort  Ludovika  had  selected,  not  with 
any  reference  to  the  ends  I  had  in  mind,  for  of 
these  she  knew  little  or  nothing,  but  quite  in  a 
natural  way,  since  it  was  among  such  that  she  found 
her  intimates  and  cronies.  Birds  of  a  feather  flock 
together,  and  in  a  city,  if  not  elsewhere,  it  is  worldly 
condition  more  than  anything  else  which  determines 
the  circles  of  friendship.  If  the  prince  and  the 
peasant  are  ever  chums,  certainly  it  is  not  in  town. 
Though  poverty  was  our  common  lot,  it  is  not 
true  that  all  these  sixteen  families,  for  with  ourselves 
the  list  held  sixteen,  were  in  anything  like  identical 
circumstances.  There  was  some  variety  of  fortune 
among  us,  after  all.  No  other  family,  for  instance, 
was  as  badly  off  as  the  Rosses.  Ross  was  a  very 
young  man,  not  long  past  his  majority,  in  fact,  who 
was  learning  the  printer's  trade.  The  printers  are  a 
jealous  craft,  as  the  prosperous  and  highly  paid 
crafts  are  only  too  apt  to  be,  and  they  compel,  or  did 
at  that  time  compel,  their  apprentices  to  serve  seven 
years  before  coming  into  the  estate  of  a  journeyman. 
During  that  long  period  of  preparation,  an  ap- 
prentice, by  the  rigid  law  of  the  union,  could  have  no 


A   Lord  of  Lands.  27 

more  than  seven  dollars  a  week,  for  his  pay,  and  that 
was  what  Ross  had,  a  sufficient  wage  to  keep  a  mod- 
est boy  nicely,  but  the  merest  beggarly  pittance  for 
a  man  with  a  family.     When  Ross  had  worked  out 
only  a  little  more  than  a  year  of  his  time,  and  had 
still  almost  six  years  of  the  servitude  ahead  of  him, 
he  fell  desperately  in  love  with  a  pretty  little  milliner, 
and  she  with  him,  and  love  laughed  in  the  same  old 
way  at  all  the  obstacles,  and  they  were  married.    To 
the  blind  eyes  of  love,  in  fact,  there  appeared  no 
obstacles.     The  girl  was  earning  seven   dollars  a 
week,  too,  and  seven  and  seven  made  fourteen,  in 
the  arithmetic  which  governs  in   computations   of 
that  character,  and  fourteen  dollars  a  week  was  a 
great  plenty,  and  was  it  not  notorious  that  two  could 
live  cheaper  than  one?     Like  the  foolish  creatures 
they  were,  and  we  all  have  been  in  our  time,  no 
doubt,    they    foresaw   nothing,    but    reckoned    con- 
fidently on  both  of  them  keeping  right  at  work,  the 
new  relation  notwithstanding.     Well,  to  make  the 
story  short,  and  skim  over  the  details,   the  unex- 
pected happened,  as  it  always  does  when  it  is  like- 
wise the  undesired,  and  one  bright,  eventful  day, 
there  came  two  more  Rosses  into  the  family,  and 
the  little  milliner's  wages  stopped  there  and  then, 
forever,  for  now  she  had  something  else  to  do  than 
trim  hats  for  other  folks.     The  printers  in  the  shop 
made  a  great  joke  of  it,  serenaded  the  Rosses  with 
a  brass  band,  and  ended  up  with  giving  them  the 
most   sumptuous   great   double   perambulator   they 
could  find  in  all  the  town.    That  is  as  much  sense  as 
some    good-hearted,     well-meaning    people    have. 


2  8  A  Lord  of  Lands. 

What  was  a  silk-lined,  silver-mounted  perambulator 
to  a  father  and  mother  who  had  to  look  forward  to 
supporting  a  family  of  four  on  seven  dollars  a  week, 
during  upwards  of  five  years,  and  only  the  good 
Lord  Himself  knowing  how  many  more  might  come 
in  the  meanwhile? 

Nor  were  all  of  us  as  badly  off  as  the  Browns> 
although  the  Browns  were  better  off  than  the  Rosses. 
It  was  not  that  they  had  such  a  vastly  greater  in- 
come, for  Brown  was  a  barber  working  for  a  share 
of  what  he  took  in,  and  there  were  lean  weeks  when 
his  pay  fell  almost  to  seven  dollars,  but  rather  that 
they  were  different  people  altogether.  The  women, 
especially,  were  different,  and  where  poverty  has 
knocked  at  the  door,  the  issue  depends  fully  as  much 
on  the  wage-spender  as  on  the  wage-earner.  Mrs. 
Brown  was  a  very  thrifty  person,  active,  ambitious, 
and  if  not  robust,  at  least  wiry  and  nervous,  and 
whatsoever  there  was  in  a  dollar  she  would  get 
it  out,  whereas  Mrs.  Ross  was  dainty,  and  shy  to  the 
verge  of  timidity,  not  at  all  fit  to  be  haggling  with 
tradesmen,  or  mingling  in  the  tumult  of  the  bargain- 
counter.  Only  for  his  capable  wife,  Brown's  case 
would  have  been  quite  the  worst  of  all,  for  he  was 
himself  a  man  of  no  force  of  character,  which  I 
attributed  to  his  having  waited  so  long  on  the  whims 
of  others.  There  is  indeed  something  very  degrad- 
ing about  the  position  which  puts  you  in  mortal 
dread  of  giving  the  least  offense,  and  in  nothing 
are  men  harder  to  please  than  in  their  shaving.  But 
I  had  more  to  learn,  about  Brown,  as  will  duly 
appear. 


A  Lord  of  Lands.  29 

Three  men  on  the  Hst  were  teamsters,  and  three 
were  carpenters,  and  these  were  given  an  especial 
value  in  virtue  of  their  calling,  but  none  of  the  others 
had  a  trade  such  as  might  be  turned  to  any  account 
in  the  new  order  of  life.    To  take  myself,  for  an  in- 
stance, once  I  should  have  taken  the  step  I  had  in 
view,  I  should  never  throw  another  switch  or  couple 
another   car,    and    by    that    my    craft,    laboriously 
learned,  was  to  be  in  a  sense  lost  to  me.    But  at  the 
same  time,  there  was  the  habit  of  industry,  and  the 
two  strong  hands,  and  certain  qualities  of  alertness 
and  confidence  in  emergency,  and  these  I  thought  to 
have  use  of  still,  and  it  was  a  good  deal  likewise 
with  the  rest,  who  were  solicitors  and  salesmen  and 
collectors  and  factory  hands.     They  all  of  them  ap- 
peared, as  I  considered  them  one  after  another,  to 
have  some  measure  of  equipment  and  preparation 
for  the  business  in  hand,  if  it  was  nothing  more  than 
their  poverty  which  made  them  restive  and  desirous 
of  a  change.    Ludovika  had  made  her  selections,  no 
doubt,  more  wnth  an  eye  to  their  social  qualities,  and 
particularly  the  social  qualities  of  the  women,  and 
while  the  men  were  not,  as  I  say,  just  the  men  I 
would  have  chosen,  they  seemed  on  the  whole  a 
likely  lot  of  fellows.     And  still  they  were  not  such 
a  lot  that  it  would  be  hard  to  duplicate  them,   a 
hundred  and  perhaps  a  thousand  times  over,  in  any 
largish  city.     They  were  after  all  about  the  run  of 
poor  men  as  you  will  find  them,  by  which  I  mean  the 
working  poor,  who  are  yet  able  to  hold  their  heads 
above  water,  though  it  be  not  far  above,  and  who 
have  not  quite  lost  the  wish  to  be  somebody. 


36  A   Lord   of  Lands. 

The  sixteen  families  which  Ludovika  finally  set- 
tled on,  with  my  assistance,  rendered  as  I  have 
described,  comprised  eighty-three  souls,  all  told, 
enough,  I  bethought  me  with  a  sense  of  gratulation, 
to  populate  a  very  tolerable  little  hamlet.  Thirty- 
two  of  these  were  men  and  women  in  the  prime  of 
life,  none  of  them  above  thirty-five  years  of  age,  and 
most  of  them  under  thirty.  The  rest  were  children, 
half-grown  and  smaller,  with  one  exception,  the 
ancient  mother  of  Mrs.  Krecke,  her  own  name  being 
Hoff.  We  hesitated  over  counting  in  the  Kreckes, 
though  much  liking  them,  for  the  reason  that  they 
were  encumbered  with  the  old  woman.  It  was  a 
wicked  thought,  and  we  had  in  time  reason  enough 
to  be  glad  we  dismissed  it,  for  Mrs.  Hoff  proved  a 
valuable  member,  a  brave  soul  always,  and  a  great 
reliance  in  an  especial  emergency,  to  some  account  of 
which  I  hope  to  come,  in  its  place. 

These  people  w^ere  out  of  many  nations,  as  might 
be  expected,  considering  how  mixed  is  our  popula- 
tion generally,  and  particularly  the  population  of  our 
cities,  but  they  were  for  the  most  part  native  born, 
or,  if  not  that,  immigrants  at  such  an  early  age  that 
they  knew  no  other  country  but  this,  save  by  a  feeble 
tradition  growing  all  the  time  feebler.  Ludovika 
did  not  forget  her  own  race,  as  indeed  she  ought  not, 
on  any  consideration,  for  there  is  no  denying  that 
the  Germans  are  a  good  sort.  I  love  to  have  them 
about  me,  in  moderation,  and  to  hear  their  talk, 
which,  although  I  can  make  but  little  definite  mean- 
ing out  of  it,  in  spite  of  being  married  to  one  to  the 
manner  born,  has  nevertheless  in  my  ears  a  com- 


A  Lord  of  Lands. 


31 


fortable  and  a  cheerful  sound,  beyond  that  of  any 
other  race  with  which  I  have  ever  come  in  contact. 
I  have  never  ceased  to  urge  upon  Ludovika  the 
wisdom  of  teaching  the  children  to  speak  German, 
and  she  has  by  no  means  neglected  the  matter,  but 
do  you  imagine  the  Httle  scoundrels  will  have  it? 
Not  they.  Not  a  word  can  any  of  them  speak  save 
English,  unless  it  be  Elizabeth,  who  affects  a  smat- 
tering of  French,  and  this  is  the  unkindest  cut  of  all 
for  Ludovika,  who  has  a  notion  that  whatever  is 
French  is  pretty  much  immoral. 

Besides  the  Germans,  who  predominated  in  num- 
bers, there  were  several  families  of  Americans,  by 
which  I  mean  that  they  were  the  progeny  of  native 
stock  for  so  many  generations  back  that  they  knew 
not  from  what  foreign  nation  they  sprung,  and 
could  not,  therefore,  call  themselves  anything  else 
but  Americans,  though  by  the  test  of  sentiment  and 
sympathy  they  were  not  more  American  than  the 
rest  of  us.  There  were  Swedes,  too,  unless  they 
were  Norwegians  or  Danes,  for  I  never  was  expert 
at  making  out  the  difference,  although  a  difference 
there  doubtless  is,  for  if  you  make  a  mistake  about 
it  and  call  a  Norwegian  a  Swede,  or  the  other  way 
about,  there  is  hard  feeling,  and  this  I  mostly  avoid 
by  calling  them  all  Scandinavians.  There  were 
some  Bohemians  by  the  name  of  Rudin,  who  always 
seemed  to  me  much  like  Germans,  apart  from  their 
tongue,  which  was  like  nothing  at  all ;  some  Polish 
people,  bearing  the  name  of  Sobraski,  the  one  and 
only  name  out  of  that  nation  which  I  ever  could 
speak  with  anything  Hke  confidence;  some  French 


32  A  Lord  of  Lands. 

called  Paul,  from  the  city  of  Strasburg,  originally, 
in  the  province  of  Alsace,  and  by  that,  if  Ludovika  is 
right,  properly  Germans,  and  a  finer  family  you  sel- 
dom see,  especially  the  girls,  one  of  whom  has  be- 
come a  professional  elocutionist  and  travels  far  and 
wide;  and  last,  but  perhaps  not  least,  some  Irish,  the 
Flavins.  Flavin  worked  in  a  great  shoe  factory,  and 
I  had  good  hopes  of  him  from  the  first,  knowing 
something  of  the  Irish  temper,  and  having  heard  him 
say,  more  than  once,  that  he  had  enough  of  a  boss 
looking  down  his  collar  all  the  time. 

But  now  there  came  up  the  question  whether 
these  people,  though  chosen,  would  permit  them- 
selves to  be  called?  It  was  some  months  transpir- 
ing, and  during  that  time  there  ensued  such  a  fury 
of  visiting  back  and  forth  among  us,  together  with 
unceasing  argumentation,  as  seems  incredible  to 
look  back  upon,  in  all  the  light  of  the  benefits  that 
were  to  accrue,  but  which  in  the  time  of  it,  with  only 
uncertainty  in  sight,  was  natural  enough.  We  had 
only  our  Sundays  for  it,  since  we  were  all  tied  to  our 
work  throughout  the  week,  but  that  did  not  greatly 
matter,  inasmuch  as  we  could  easily  talk  enough  in 
one  day  to  keep  us  busy  thinking  during  the  other 
six,  especially  as  serious  thinking  was  rather  a  new 
business  for  us.  The  bulk  of  the  speech,  anyway  to 
begin  with,  fell  to  me,  as  the  sponsor,  so  to  say,  of 
the  scheme,  and  never  in  all  my  life  have  I  been  more 
thankful  than  then  I  was  for  the  gift  in  virtue  of 
which  it  is  about  as  easy  for  me  to  talk  as  to  breathe, 
which  is  saying  a  good  deal,  for,  although  there 
have  no  doubt  been  times  when  this  facility  of  ex- 


A   Lord  of  Lands. 


33 


pression  was  to  my  disadvantage,  it  has  been,  on  the 
whole,  a  great  solace.  I  was  driven  to  the  limit,  I 
assure  you,  in  those  days,  and  Sunday  after  Sunday 
bedtime  found  me  with  my  throat  quite  raw,  to  such 
a  degree  had  it  been  worn  with  discoursing. 

All  the  while  I  had  the  firm  and  efficient  support 
of  Ludovika,  for  once  she  had  thoroughly  considered 
the  matter,  in  her  calm  way,  the  practical  benefits 
were  too  apparent  to  allow  her  to  withhold  her  favor, 
and  a  German's  favor  means  something.  She  could 
say  but  Httle,  not  having  the  aptitude,  but  that  little 
was  very  much  to  the  point,  and  very  telling,  and  she 
developed,  on  this  occasion,  a  surprising  knack  for 
appealing  to  hidden  motives.  She  found  weak 
points,  as  it  were,  in  the  opposition,  which  had  alto- 
gether escaped  me,  and  while  I  was  battering  away 
at  the  solid  wall  and  making  but  slight  progress,  she 
would  be  stealing  round  and  effecting  an  easy  flank 
movement.  Of  course,  nobody  can  talk  as  fast  or 
as  loud  as  an  Irishman,  least  of  all  a  German,  but 
persuasion  is  a  mysterious  thing.  There  is  more  to 
it  than  the  sweep  of  rhetoric. 

But  despite  the  merit  of  our  proposal,  and  the 
convincing  presentation  my  wife  and  I  gave  it,  it 
was  an  uphill  job,  this  of  bringing  thirty  men  and 
women  to  our  way  of  thinking.  For  a  long  time, 
anyway,  it  seemed  a  long  time,  they  were  not  by 
any  means  to  be  induced  to  take  us  seriously.  They 
would  have  it  that  we  were  only  joking,  and  the  men 
badgered  me,  while  the  women  poked  fun  at 
Ludovika.  More  than  once,  I  am  ready  to  confess, 
my  blood  ran  pretty  warm,  at  being  so  ill  met  in  an 
3 


34  A  Lord  of  Lands. 

effort  to  do  good,  even  though  it  was  chiefly  the 
good  of  myself  and  mine  that  I  had  in  view,  and 
I  was  in  considerable  danger  of  losing  my  temper, 
and  the  wonder  is  that  an  Irishman,  whose  hair  is 
undeniably  on  the  red  (Elizabeth  is  for  omitting  this, 
but  I  have  bound  myself  to  speak  the  truth  and 
hew  to  the  line,  let  the  chips  fall  as  they  may,  and 
will  hear  of  nothing  of  pertinency  being  suppressed 
or  glossed  over) — the  wonder  is,  I  say,  that  such  a 
person  ever  restrained  himself.  It  was  Ludovika's 
doing,  once  more.  As  often  as  I  found  myself  op- 
pressed, in  this  fashion,  I  had  only  to  look  over  at 
her,  to  behold  her  unruffled  calm,  with  the  jibes  and 
jeers  sliding  off  her,  as  if  she  wore  an  armor  and 
they  were  arrows,  and  I  was  instantly  made  ashamed 
of  my  impatience  and  glad  to  begin  all  over  as 
sweetly  as  possible. 

And  even  when,  at  length,  we  had  made  them 
understand  that  we  were  in  earnest,  there  were  still 
great  difficulties.  In  a  way  there  was,  as  I  say,  a 
common  fate  among  us,  to  give  us  something  like  a 
common  point  of  view,  but  against  this  advantage 
there  was  to  be  reckoned  the  inevitable  dissimilarity 
of  character  and  temper,  whereby  some  were  more 
sanguine  than  others,  and  some  keener  than  others 
to  grasp  the  possibilities.  There  was,  moreover,  on 
the  part  of  nearly  all,  an  affectation  of  unconcern,  a 
cynical  indifference,  the  effect  of  a  deliberate  effort 
to  give  the  morrow  never  a  thought,  inasmuch  as  it 
held  such  a  poor  prospect.  I  could  not  blame  them, 
for  I  had  been  of  that  way  myself,  deeming  it  the 
part  of  courage  to  turn  my  back  on  the  outlook, 


A  Lord  of  Lands. 


35 


when  it  lowered  darkly,  and  I  am  not  saying  that 
there  may  not  be,  in  some  cases,  a  commendable 
pluckiness  in  such  an  attitude,  but  notwithstanding, 
it  was  no  such  attitude  as  I  wished  my  friends  to 
have,  for  I  knew  that  until  they  should  look  the  fu- 
ture squarely  in  the  face,  and  be  thoroughly  fright- 
ened by  it,  they  would  lack  the  motive  to  taking 
measures  of  precaution.  Unless  they  should  lift  up 
their  eyes  and  see  the  ruin  falling  upon  them,  they 
were  not  likely  to  stir  a  hand  to  ward  it  off.  They 
would  come  back  at  me  with  the  old  saying  that 
what  can't  be  cured  must  be  endured,  and  what  must 
be  endured  is  better  endured  cheerfully,  and  I 
seemed  to  be  tugging  at  a  dead  weight,  they  were 
that  unwilling.  Patience  is  truly  a  great  virtue,  and 
it  is  none  the  worse  for  being  cheerful,  but  it 
may  cease  to  be  such,  and  in  more  than  one  way,  I 
fancy.  At  one  verge  of  it  there's  but  a  thin  line 
to  divide  it  from  cowardice,  which  is  as  certainly  a 
great  vice.  As  for  borrowing  trouble,  that  is  little 
more  than  a  mere  phrase,  by  which  a  foolish  man 
describes  the  prudence  he  doesn't  wish  to  have  the 
trouble  of.  What  right  have  you  or  I  to  say  that  a 
condition  can't  be  cured?  How  do  we  know  that, 
as  long  as  there  is  life  in  us,  and  a  shred  of  strength 
with  which  to  try  to  cure  it  ? 

Another  difficulty,  and  I  count  it  by  no  means  the 
least,  was  a  certain  aversion  to  farming,  as  a  calling, 
which  put  itself  in  evidence  at  once  the  discussion 
took  on  the  character  of  seriousness.  These  silly 
people,  and  I  am  the  readier  to  call  them  so  because 
I  do  not  leave  myself  out,  being  conscious  of  some 


36  A  Lord  of  Lands. 

such  prejudice  in  my  own  bosom,  though  I  affected 
to  be  vastly  astonished  to  discover  it  in  the  others, — 
these  silly  people,  I  repeat,  looked  down  on  agricul- 
ture with  something  like  contempt,  for  all  it  is  the 
noblest,  and  the  fittest,  as  it  was  the  first  occupation 
of  mankind.  The  women,  especially,  sniffed  at  it 
most  disdainfully.  Farming,  quoth  they,  with  all 
the  air  of  final  conviction,  was  the  proper  business 
only  of  such  as  were  too  stupid  to  manage  any 
other.  Anybody  could  be  a  farmer,  but  nobody  was 
a  farmer  who  could  be  anything  else.  Whoever 
went  into  the  work  of  tilling  the  soil  thereby  wrote 
himself  down  a  simpleton.  To  their  minds,  the  mere 
looks  of  a  farmer  were  conclusive  evidence  of  his 
inferiority,  for  he  always  appeared  a  gawky  fellow, 
of  whom  it  was  easy  to  believe  that  he  never  came 
to  town  without  getting  himself  swindled  by  the 
most  specious  of  tricks.  I  have  to  stop  and  sit  back 
and  roar  with  laughter,  as  I  write  these  things  down, 
they  seem  that  ridiculous  to  me,  now,  but  in  the 
time  of  them  I  can  tell  you  I  did  not  laugh.  Truly  I 
hardly  knew  what  to  do  to  make  head  against  this 
prejudice,  the  more  as  I  secretly  shared  in  it,  and 
do  and  say  what  I  might,  still  had,  down  in  my 
heart,  something  of  a  sense  of  shame  over  becoming 
a  farmer,  something  of  a  feeling  that  I  was  about 
to  confess  myself  a  failure.  But,  at  last,  happily 
enough,  as  the  event  proved,  I  hit  upon  the  expedi- 
ent of  setting  foolishness  against  foolishness.  I  well 
knew,  not  being  wholly  devoid  of  shrewdness,  what 
a  passion  poor  people  have,  however  much  they  may 
deny  it,  for  imitating  the  rich,  and  I  pointed  out  to 


A   Lord  of  Lands.  37 

my  friends  liow  that  the  wealthy  classes,  who  could 
go  where  they  liked  and  do  what  they  liked,  were 
fairly  falling  over  one  another  in  their  eagerness  to 
get  out  and  live  on  the  soil,  near  to  nature  and 
nature's  God.  If  farming  was  good  enough  for 
them,  who  were  we  to  despise  it?  I  am  almost 
ashamed  to  add  that  the  plea  had  its  effect.  It  was 
quite  true  that  the  thirst  for  novelty  which  ever 
possesses  rich  idlers  was  just  then  finding  its  grati- 
fication in  a  prodigious  rush  for  the  country,  and  we 
all  knew  it,  and  when  I  had  directed  attention  to  it, 
embellishing  the  picture  with  some  few  strokes  of 
color,  I  was  rejoiced  to  hear  less  and  less  talk  about 
farming  being  degrading. 

But,  on  the  other  hand,  helping  greatly  with  the 
work  of  persuasion,  there  was  all  the  time  the  de- 
light which  every  man  has  in  laying  plans.  It  was 
never  very  hard  to  fan  up  a  discussion  as  to  the 
best  sort  of  a  house  to  build,  and  as  for  the  rest, 
dense  ignorance  did  not  render  us  modest,  any  more 
than  it  usually  renders  men  modest.  You  would  be 
amused,  I  know,  could  you  have  heard  us  go  on  as 
to  the  most  advantageous  arrangement  of  a  barn, 
and  the  proper  uses  of  the  various  kinds  of  soil,  for 
the  most  part  in  all  gravity,  though  now  and  then 
somebody's  keener  sense  of  the  ludicrous  would  up- 
set him.  Where  the  average  man  has  to  speak  an 
opinion  on  a  matter  or  else  rest  under  the  imputation 
of  knowing  nothing  about  it,  he  is  pretty  apt  to 
speak,  and  by  this  circumstance  we  were  drawn  on, 
and  touched  with  a  serious  interest,  which  was  what 
we  needed  above  all  things  else  at  the  moment. 


38  A  Lord  of  Lands. 

And  after  awhile  there  appeared  the  cheering  evi- 
dence that  our  friends  were  talking  among  them- 
selves, and  not  only  when  they  had  Ludovika  and  me 
to  set  them  on.  They  were  planning  on  their  own 
hook,  and  that  meant  they  were  on  the  way  to 
conviction,  with  a  good  chance  of  arriving  in  due 
time. 

Meanwhile  and  about  incessantly,  I  kept  hammer- 
ing away  with  the  main  argument. 

"  Men  and  women,"  I  would  say,  for  while  to 
call  them  ladies  and  gentlemen  would  in  nowise 
strain  the  truth,  and  might  be  more  polite,  the  other 
fashion  suited  me  best  as  having  a  superior  intimacy 
and  warmth  about  it,  "  men  and  women,  think  of  it. 
As  you  are  situated  now,  you  are  barely  able  to 
make  a  living  when  all  goes  well,  and  who  dares 
reckon  on  all  going  always  well  ?  We  pay  our  way, 
and  have  nothing  left,  when  we  swim  at  the  top  of 
the  wave.  That  is  the  highest  prosperity  we  know 
or  ever  can  know.  Of  course  there  will  be  unpros- 
perous  times  for  us,  as  there  are  for  everybody.  A 
man  will  fall  sick,  or  he  may  lose  his  job.  These 
misfortunes  are  coming  to  such  as  us  every  day,  and 
we  shall  not  be  exempt  forever.  As  for  sickness,  the 
wonder  is  that  we  are  ever  well,  what  with  all  the 
noxious  vapors  that  abound  in  the  city,  and  the 
abominable  food  we  have  to  content  ourselves  with 
for  lack  of  means  to  procure  better.  As  for  losing 
our  jobs,  who  does  not  know  that  no  man  is  secure 
in  his  employment  unless  he  is  a  highly  skilled  work- 
man, with  a  powerful  union  to  uphold  him  ?  We  are 
only  a  grade  removed  from  the  common  laborers, 


A   Lord  of  Lands.  39 

and  our  kind  are  as  numerous  as  the  sands  of  the 
sea,  which  means  that  there  are  many  men  for  every 
job.    And  right  here  let  me  say,  to  those  who  look 
upon   farming  as  degrading,   that  nothing  can  be 
more  degrading  than  this  matter  of  a  man  having 
forever  to  lick  the  boots  of  his  boss  in  order  to  keep 
his  employment,  and  even  at  that  never  knowing 
when  it  will  fall  his  turn  to  be  laid  off.     I  submit 
that  you  owe  it  to  your  manhood  to  get  away  from 
such  conditions  if  you  can.     A  farmer  can  at  least 
hold  up  his  head  and  look  tyrants  and  rich  men  in 
the  face.     And  then,  too,  there  are  your  children. 
Are  you  satisfied  with  what  you  are  able  to  do  for 
them?     Do  you  like  the  prospect  before  them,  of 
your  boys  going  on  the  streets  to  sell  papers,  say, 
or  slaving  half  their  life  as  apprentices  in  order  to 
gain  the  right  to  earn  a  precarious  livelihood  at 
last;  of  your  girls  going  into  some  vile  factory  to 
toil   early   and   late   for  a   dollar  a  week,   not  to 
speak  of  the  vice  which  is  all  the  time  flaunting 
its   attractions   in   their   faces?     I   will   freely   say 
that  I  do  not,  for  one.    We  have  all  of  us,  I  know, 
as  we  should  have,  the  wish  to  make  our  children 
in  everything  better  men  and  women  than  we  are. 
It   is   by   that    feeling,   planted   in   the   breasts   of 
parents,  that  the  Lord  builds  up  and  improves  the 
races  of  the  earth.     But  if  we  stay  here,  what  is 
more  certain  than  that  our  children  will  be,  not 
better,  but  worse  ?    Is  it  not  the  record  of  the  past 
that  poor  people  who  dwell  in  cities  generation  after 
generation,  get  all  the  time  poorer,  and  sink  steadily 
lower  in  the  social  scale?    I  think  it  is,  my  friends." 


40  A  Lord  of  Lands. 

Understand,  I  do  not  profess  to  quote  myself 
literally,  in  this,  and  by  way  of  forestalling  the  sus- 
picion that  I  have  imputed  to  myself  a  discourse 
more  polished  than  is  due,  I  will  candidly  confess 
that  in  those  days  I  used  often,  nay,  almost  in- 
variably, to  say  done  for  did,  and  seen  for  saw,  not 
to  mention  the  lesser  assaults  on  the  King's  English 
which  I  was  all  the  time  committing.  On  the 
present  occasion  I  doubt  not  in  the  least  that  I 
lapsed  into  numberless  errors,  and  these  of  the 
gravest  character,  especially  with  my  consuming  en- 
thusiasm making  me  forgetful  of  the  little  I  then 
knew  of  correct  usages.  But  the  gist  of  it  was  as  I 
have  written  it.  I  have  observed  it  is  a  law  of 
literature  that  people  speak  far  more  elegantly  in 
print  than  ever  they  speak  out  of  it,  and  if  I  am  to 
be  a  personage  in  a  book,  I  presume  I  may  claim 
for  myself  the  usual  privileges.  The  gist  of  it,  I 
repeat,  was  as  I  have  written  it.  If  my  argument 
shall  appear  less  coherent  than  a  thoroughly  good 
argument  should  be,  I  answer  that  my  great  wish 
was  to  carry  conviction,  and  I  despised  no  motive 
or  principle  from  which  I  might  hope  to  derive  help. 
Not  only  to  their  reason  did  I  appeal,  but  to  their 
whims  as  well,  their  unreasonable  loves  and  hates. 
The  reason  is  a  grand  thing.  It  distinguishes  us 
from  the  beasts.  But  after  all,  what  we  do,  at  last, 
is  more  often  determined  by  the  passions  which  we 
have  in  common  with  the  beasts,  than  by  the  high 
human  faculties,  and  he  who  would  procure  things 
to  be  done  has  this  to  remember. 

Well,  the  business  prospered,  on  the  whole,  and 


A   Lord   of  Lands.  41 

went  forward  steadily,  though  so  slowly  for  some 
time  that  it  seemed  almost  at  a  standstill.  It  was 
a  hopeful  sign  when  the  others  began  to  join  issue 
with  us,  I  mean  with  Ludovika  and  me,  and  to 
raise  up  objections  in  a  serious  vein,  instead  of 
turning  it  off  with  some  joke,  and  to  stand  their 
ground  manfully,  and  while  you  might  think,  hap- 
pening upon  us  casually,  that  we  were  come  to 
daggers'  points,  such  was  the  vociferation,  it  really 
marked  a  gratifying  progress  over  the  hstlessnes's 
we  began  with.  It  never  came  to  pass,  of  necessity, 
that  the  thirty-two  of  us  were  gathered  together  at 
one  time  and  place.  None  of  us  lived  in  a  large 
house,  and  to  have  found  room  for  us  all,  we  should 
have  had  to  hire  a  hall,  or  have  met  in  the  park, 
where  our  bickerings  and  chafferings  must  have 
broken  the  public  peace,  to  judge  of  the  noise  thirty- 
two  would  have  made  by  the  uproar  of  eight  or 
ten. 

And  another  hopeful  sign  was  when,  in  now  and 
then  a  controversy,  my  wife  and  I  found  ourselves 
not  altogether  alone.  Indeed,  that  was  the  begin- 
ning of  the  end,  and  henceforth  we  gained  fast. 
Every  voice  which  should  be  joined  with  ours  was 
at  the  same  time  a  voice  less  to  be  joined  with 
the  opposition,  and  winning  one  was  equal  to  win- 
ning two.  And  so  they  came  over,  one  by  one,  or, 
rather,  in  pairs,  for  where  there  is  a  material  in- 
terest at  stake,  families  are  not  likely  to  divide. 
Man  and  wife,  though  there  be  but  little  of  fine 
sympathy  between  them,  can  but  hardly  shake  off 
the  sense  of  a  worldly  community  of  interest.    They 


42  A  Lord  of  Lands. 

will  quarrel  till  all  is  blue,  between  themselves,  and 
yet,  as  against  the  rest  of  the  world,  they  are  one. 
A  friend  of  mine  who  was  a  policeman  for  many 
years  informed  me  that  he  always  had  a  great  hesi- 
tancy about  arresting  any  man  whom  he  caught  beat- 
ing his  wife,  though  the  occasion  often  arose,  be- 
cause he  knew  by  experience  that  the  woman,  by  all 
chances,  would  go  into  court  and  defend  the  man, 
and  make  the  officer  out  a  great  liar  and  meddler  in 
matters  which  did  not  concern  him. 

The  day  was  carried,  at  length,  almost  before  we 
knew  it.  No  doubt  these  men  and  women  offered 
all  of  them  about  an  equal  resistance  to  appeal,  and 
w^ere  brought  up  to  the  point  of  conviction  pretty 
much  together,  like  a  platoon  marching  abreast,  to 
the  end  that  they  came  over,  when  come  they  did, 
with  a  rush.  At  all  events,  that  was  how  it  turned 
out,  and  you  can  picture  my  relief  and  joy. 

In  one  sense,  however,  the  victory  was  not  com- 
plete, though  perhaps  it  was  complete  enough. 
Three  families  were  not  to  be  persuaded,  even 
with  the  other  thirteen  united  in  a  solid  phalanx 
and  bearing  down  on  them  with  so  great  a  force 
of  exhortation  and  entreaty.  They  had  to  be 
given  up,  after  all,  and  I  will  say,  hoping  my  words 
may  never  come  to  them,  that  I  was  not  sorry,  for 
my  own  part.  They  belonged  to  a  class  of  poor 
people,  all  too  common  in  the  towns,  whose  disad- 
vantages, extensive  enough  at  best.  Lord  knows,  are 
augmented  by  their  own  vanity,  a  class,  in  a  word, 
the  most  hopeless  of  all.  These  particular  specimens 
took  a  comfort  in  their  slender  white  hands  and  deli- 


A   Lord  of  Lands.  43 

cate  nails,  not  only  the  women,  mind  you,  but  the 
men,  as  well,  and  more  I  need  not  say  of  them.  I 
have  no  quarrel  with  the  woman  who  takes  pains  to 
be  beautiful,  for  she  is  created,  I  hold,  somewhat 
as  the  flowers  are,  to  beautify  the  world  with  her 
presence.  But  assuredly  it  is  no  part  of  a  man's  duty 
to  be  beautiful,  beyond  the  beauty  which  inheres  in 
strength  and  wholesome  health,  and  in  nothing  does 
he  so  belittle  himself  as  in  making  it  his  serious  con- 
cern. Elizabeth  suggests,  with  gracious  gentleness, 
that  I  have  herewith  laid  myself  open  to  the  danger 
of  being  misunderstood.  Will  not  people  think,  says 
she,  that  you  are  actuated  by  the  motive  of  the  fox 
in  the  fable,  who  had  lost  his  tail,  and  henceforth 
blamed  the  custom  of  wearing  tails?  I  see  the  point, 
but  I  recall  nothing  that  I  have  written.  It  is  true 
that  I  am  not  beautiful  myself,  but  making  all  due 
allowance  for  that  circumstance,  am  I  not  justified 
in  thinking  him  no  true  man  who  will  not  wrestle 
with  an  unkind  fate  for  fear  of  spoiling  his  hands? 
But  be  that  as  it  may,  the  project  suffered  not  at 
all  by  reason  of  the  failure  to  land  these  three  fam- 
ilies. There  are  plenty  of  good  fish  left  in  the  sea, 
always,  and  we  had  no  difficulty  in  finding  suitable 
material  to  fill  the  vacancies.  I  say  vacancies,  for  in 
order  to  carry  out  the  plan  I  had  in  my  mind,  and  to 
the  disclosure  of  which  I  am  now  coming,  there  had 
to  be  sixteen  families  in  all. 


CHAPTER  III. 

The  Chinese  are  a  wonderful  people,  and  I  am 
not  ashamed  to  have  taken  counsel  of  them.  Some 
there  are  who  deem  them  almost  less  than  human, 
but  will  even  these  deny  that  they  are  wonderfully 
endowed  with  the  faculty  of  picking  figs  off  thistles, 
for  it  comes  to  hardly  less  than  that,  when  you  con- 
sider what  head  they  make  against  adversity  by 
sheer  thrift  and  patience  and  industry?  No  doubt 
there  is  that  about  them,  at  the  same  time,  which 
permits  something  to  be  said  on  the  other  side,  for 
we  all  have  our  faults,  I  believe,  and  yet,  withal,  it 
strikes  me  as  a  great  pity  if  we  can  find  no  place  and 
use  in  our  country  for  a  race  so  amazingly  gifted  in 
these  most  useful  qualities.  I  have  more  than  half 
a  notion  ( of  course  I  am  one  of  the  fellows  who  see 
visions  and  dream  dreams,  and  of  course  such  fel- 
lows are  not  to  be  trusted  far  out  of  sight,  but  none 
the  less  they  sometimes  have  a  power  of  suggestion 
not  to  be  despised) — I  have  more  than  half  a  notion, 
I  say,  that  if  we  were  to  let  the  Chinese  freely  in, 
while  making  it  a  condition  that  they  go  and  take  up 
their  residence  on  the  bad  lands  of  our  western 
plains,  we  should  wake  some  fine  morning  to  dis- 
cover that  there  were  no  bad  lands,  any  more,  only 
good  lands,  a  rose  garden  where  a  desert  is,  now, 


A   Lord  of  Lands.  45 

and  always  will  be  a  desert,  most  likely,  so  long  as 
there  is  none  but  the  fastidious  white  man  to  make 
aught  else  of  it.  I  have  just  that  confidence  in  thrift 
and  patience  and  industry,  in  Chinese  or  whosoever 
else.  They  would  find  water  for  the  parched  soil, 
and  if  they  could  do  no  better,  they  would  fetch  it 
to  their  thirsty  crops  in  buckets  slung  over  their 
shoulders. 

But  that  is  neither  here  nor  there.  What  the 
Chinese  have  to  do  with  my  narrative  arises  out  of 
their  peculiar  manner  of  farming  in  their  own 
country,  by  which  they  divest  the  business  com- 
pletely of  that  loneliness  which,  more  than  anything 
else,  I  daresay,  has  got  it  shunned  and  disliked  with 
us.  For  Chinese  farmers,  as  I  am  informed,  manage 
to  live  none  the  less  in  an  urban  fashion,  in  villages, 
huddled  together  very  snugly  and  cosily  in  the  midst 
of  their  fields,  like  sociable  ants  in  a  hill.  Such  ap- 
pears to  have  been  the  custom  of  ages,  fallen  into  at 
first  by  way  of  protection  against  robbers,  and  kept 
up  for  a  like  reason,  for  aught  I  know,  though  the 
incidental  benefit  of  human  company  is  assuredly 
sufficient  to  justify  it,  without  any  other.  Of  course, 
our  robbers  being  mostly  of  a  different  sort,  we  were 
not  thinking  of  them,  but  altogether  of  the  other 
thing,  when  we  resolved  to  take  the  Chinese  for  our 
pattern,  in  so  far  as  our  circumstances  would  let  us. 
It  is  a  meritorious  principle,  I  am  convinced.  I  find 
myself  looking  forward,  with  the  eye  of  prophecy, 
to  the  time  when  farmers  generally  will  be  living  in 
this  comfortable  fashion,  and  then  there  will  be  one 
more  great  discovery  for  the  Chinese  to  claim,  a 


46  A  Lord  of  Lands. 

greater,  possibly,  than  gunpowder,  and  not  unworthy 
to  stand  with  printing,  even. 

With  these  preHminaries,  I  come  to  the  unfolding 
of  our  plan. 

First  and  chiefly,  we  would  gather  our  sixteen 
homes  together,  into  a  compact  group,  in  the  midst 
of  our  lands.  This  was  the  point  of  departure,  in  all 
our  discussions,  the  condition  given  and  understood 
in  every  argument.  But  we  were  not  long  in  dis- 
covering that  what  was  an  easy  arrangement  in 
China  might  have  its  difficulties  when  translated 
bodily  to  America.  A  Chinese  farmer,  thanks  to  his 
wonderful  frugality,  will  manage  with  the  fruits  of 
a  small  piece  of  land,  usually  less  than  an  acre,  I  am 
told,  and  so  it  comes  about  that  a  great  many  farm- 
ers can  live  in  one  village,  without  the  need  of  any 
of  them  having  to  go  far  to  reach  his  field.  For  the 
most  obvious  reasons,  we  had  to  have  more  land  than 
that.  We  made  up  our  minds,  at  last,  after  endless 
consideration,  that  each  family  of  us  should  have 
forty  acres.  It  did  not  seem  to  us  safe  to  undertake 
to  make  a  living  off  less  than  forty  acres,  and  we 
were  not  without  misgivings  as  to  the  sufficiency  of 
even  that  measure,  particularly  in  view  of  the  one 
hundred  and  sixty  acres  which  the  government  allots 
to  a  family  under  the  homestead  law,  as  if  to  in- 
timate that  so  much  were  necessary.  But  we  were 
kept  from  fixing  upon  a  larger  tract,  partly  by  the 
expense  of  it,  but  mostly  by  the  seeming  impossi- 
bility of  bringing  a  larger  tract  within  the  scope  of 
our  principle.  Sixteen  farms  of  a  hundred  and  sixty 
acres  each  would  make,  together,  a  vast  territory, 


A  Lord  of  Lands.  47 

and  with  all  the  homes  grouped  in  the  middle  of  it, 
some  of  us  would  have  a  long  way  to  travel  to  their 
fields.  On  the  other  hand,  sixteen  farms  of  forty 
acres  each  would  make  in  all  an  exact  section,  or  a 
square  mile,  so  that  the  little  village  in  the  middle 
would  be  barely  half  a  mile  distant  from  the  fur- 
thest corner  of  the  furthest  field,  not  an  oppressively 
long  journey,  by  any  means.  As  for  the  adequacy  of 
so  little  land  to  the  support  of  so  many  persons,  we 
flattered  ourselves  we  might  learn  still  further  of  the 
Chinese,  and  get  more  into  the  kind  of  farming 
which  looks  to  making  the  very  utmost  of  the  capa- 
bilities of  the  soil,  the  kind  of  farming  which  I  now 
know  to  be  called  intensive,  as  opposed  to  extensive, 
which  latter,  let  me  say,  is  not  farming  at  all,  but 
a  species  of  devastation.  We  blundered  into  quite 
the  right  conclusion,  as  it  was  our  luck  to  blunder 
more  than  once,  first  and  last.  Forty  acres  are 
amply  enough  for  any  man,  if  he  does  his  duty  by  it, 
and  as  for  keeping  a  family,  half  as  much,  tilled  as 
it  should  be,  would  answer  nicely. 

And  so,  we  said,  we  should  get  us  a  section  of 
land  of  six  hundred  and  forty  acres,  or  a  square 
mile. 

This  tract  we  should  divide,  first  of  all,  by  two 
roadways,  of  the  standard  breadth  (when  we  found 
that  roads  were  regularly  four  rods  wide,  we  were 
tempted  to  make  ours  two,  which  seemed  ample 
enough,  but,  though  we  greatly  begrudged  the  land, 
we  held  to  our  first  design,  and  have  never  since 
been  sorry  for  it)  running  through,  the  one  from 
north  to  south  and  the  other  from  east  to  west,  and 


48  A   Lord  of  Lands. 

meeting  in  the  middle  to  mark  by  their  intersection 
the  site  of  our  village.  Perhaps  I  should  add  that 
the  boundaries  of  a  surveyed  section  run  always 
north  and  south  and  east  and  west,  since  you  may 
not  be  aware  of  that  fact,  and  I  wish  you  to  have 
the  picture  of  our  tract  in  your  mind,  how  that  the 
roads  divide  it  into  four  square  and  equal  parts. 

In  the  village,  we  resolved,  each  family  should 
have  a  plot  of  five  acres,  and  every  plot  should  face 
out  on  a  roadway.  There  would  be  four  plots,  of 
necessity,  which  would  face  on  two  roadways,  gain- 
ing thereby  a  distinction  and  possibly  some  solid  ad- 
vantage, but  this  was  no  practical  embarrassment,  in- 
asmuch as  the  distribution  was  to  be  determined  by 
lot,  and  no  man  could  justly  complain,  no  matter 
what  fell  to  him.  We  thought  best,  for  what  reason 
I  cannot  now  recall,  to  have  these  home  plots  make 
up  in  the  aggregate  a  compact  square,  as  nearly  as 
possible,  to  which  end  they  had  to  be  of  various 
forms,  some  narrower  and  some  wider,  a  matter 
which  we  puzzled  over  a  good  deal,  and  never  got 
fairly  fixed  until  we  left  it  to  expert  draughtsmen,  as 
our  good  fortune  permitted  us  to  do,  without  cost, 
a  little  later.  But  every  plot,  no  matter  what  its 
form,  should  contain  five  full  acres,  no  more  and  no 
less. 

As  for  the  rest  of  the  land,  lying  out,  it  was  to  be 
divided  into  sixteen  equal  fields,  to  be  distributed  by 
lot  likewise.  The  roads  must  take  out  some  few 
acres,  and  for  that  reason  each  man's  farm  would  in 
the  end  fall  short  of  an  even  forty.  Moreover,  there 
might  turn  out  to  be  some  waste  land  in  the  section, 


A   Lord  of  Lands.  49 

although  we  hoped  to  avoid  this  by  prudence  in  se- 
lecting, or,  if  prudence  failed,  by  good  luck.  But 
whatever  waste  land  there  should  be,  it  was  to  be 
counted  out  of  the  holdings  of  all,  share  and  share 
alike. 

Now,  one  thing  we  agreed  to  from  the  start,  and 
it  was  this,  that  there  should  be  no  community  of 
title.  It  was  not  that  communism,  or  socialism,  was 
ahogether  a  bugaboo  to  us,  as  it  is  to  some,  whereby 
they  take  fright  and  cover  their  eyes  and  stop  up 
their  ears  at  the  mere  sound  of  the  name,  but  rather 
that  there  was  in  us  all  that  sentiment  which  is  per- 
haps the  greatest  obstacle  the  socialists  will  have  to 
encounter,  I  mean  the  aspiration  to  ownership,  the 
wish  of  every  man  to  be  a  Lord  of  Lands,  to  have 
his  own  little  bit  of  earth  all  for  himself,  with  none 
other  to  lay  the  shadow  of  an  adverse  claim  upon  it. 
Possibly  this  sentiment  is  indeed  a  relic  of  the  feudal 
system,  and  out  of  date,  but  none  the  less  it  exists, 
and  if  I  am  any  judge  there  is  a  comfort  in  it,  and 
always  will  be,  unless  men  shall  be  made  over.  But 
anyway,  the  one  agreement  that  we  voted  unani- 
mously, at  once,  and  without  debate,  was  the  agree- 
ment to  own  no  land  in  common.  Each  village  plot 
and  each  outlying  field  should  be  exactly  described 
by  metes  and  bounds  and  be  deeded  to  some  one  of 
us  to  have  and  to  hold,  his  heirs  and  assigns  for- 
ever, exclusively.  We  should  be  associates  and  part- 
ners in  many  things.  Until  we  got  our  feet  fairly 
under  us,  we  should  work  in  common,  and  the  fruits 
of  our  labor  should  be  common  property,  but  the 
land,  which  was  to  be  the  foundation  of  our  estate, 
4 


5©  A  Lord  of  Lands. 

should  be  touched  by  no  community.  Every  man's 
land  should  be  his  own. 

And  now,  at  length,  with  the  plans  elaborated  out 
to  such  a  minuteness  of  detail,  there  came  up  the 
question  of  the  wherewithal.  Whence  was  to  come 
the  money  to  do  all  these  grand  things  with  ? 

Not  one  of  us  had  a  penny  in  the  world  beyond 
what  he  would  need  to  pay  the  bills  of  the  butcher 
and  the  grocer  and  the  landlord  at  the  end  of  the 
month.  More  than  one  of  us,  I  have  good  reason 
to  suspect,  had  less,  either  in  hand  or  in  prospect, 
than  he  owed. 

Of  course,  you  will  understand  that  this  question 
of  the  wherewithal  had  been  lurking  not  far  off  all 
the  time.  No  practical  man  is  likely  to  go  far  in  lay- 
ing plans  without  some  thought  of  the  means  of 
carrying  them  out,  and  the  question  of  the  where- 
withal began  to  be  raised  pretty  early  in  our  palaver- 
ing. But  as  often  as  it  was  raised,  I  made  shift  to 
wave  it  aside,  as  being  out  of  order,  until  the  process 
of  persuasion  should  be  complete.  Possibly  we 
should  never  be  persuaded,  and  if  so,  what  was 
the  use  of  considering  the  means  ?  Naturally,  these 
men  and  women,  not  in  the  least  used  to  looking  up 
to  me,  were  not  likely  to  be  beguiled  into  any  sort 
of  assurance  by  my  easy  manner,  but  they  were  in- 
duced to  let  this  main  question  lie  while  they  an- 
swered the  others.  But  now,  as  I  say,  there  was 
nothing  else  to  discuss.  Everything  was  settled  but 
the  means.    Whence  was  to  come  the  money  ? 

Everybody  looked  at  me,  as  why  should  they  not  ? 
I  was  expecting  nothing  less,  and  while  I  was  most 


A  Lord  of  Lands.  51 

anxious  to  avoid  wholly  the  appearance  of  consider- 
ing myself  a  leader  and  chief  man,  lest  I  arouse 
jealousies,  I  very  plainly  saw  that  the  situation 
tolerated  no  backwardness.  So  I  took  the  question 
to  myself,  and  replied  to  it,  what  do  you  think? 
Why,  as  coolly  as  you  please,  I  told  them  that  the 
money  would  be  forthcoming.  They  had  not  to  fear, 
I  said,  that  the  money  would  not  be  forthcoming, 
provided  only  we  stood  ready  to  do  our  part.  Get- 
ting the  money,  I  declared,  warming,  was  the  easiest 
part  of  it.  If  we  were  resolved  to  make  the  hazard, 
and,  having  made  it,  to  stand  loyally  one  by  another 
until  we  had  achieved  success,  to  do  our  honest  best 
in  sunshine  and  in  storm,  to  set  our  faces  resolutely 
to  the  front  and  keep  them  there,  come  what  might, 
then,  quoth  I,  the  matter  of  the  mere  money  needed 
should  give  us  little  or  no  concern. 

They  stared  at  me  very  hard  while  I  was  making 
my  speech.  They  had  got  beyond  laughing  at  me  to 
my  face,  but  I  could  see  there  was  not  a  soul  of  them 
but  scorned  me  in  his  heart,  for  a  fool,  excepting 
only  Ludovika,  and  I  think  she  believed  in  me  only 
because  she  suspected  me  of  being  supernaturally 
gifted,  and  would  not  have  been  much  surprised  were 
I  to  go  out  and  draw  a  stream  of  dollars  from  the 
penstock  in  the  back  yard,  as  Moses  drew  water 
from  the  rock.  It  is  a  vast  comfort  for  a  man  to  be 
married  to  a  woman  who  believes  in  him,  even 
though  her  faith  shall  be  but  a  slender  compliment  to 
her  judgment,  for  where  is  there  the  man  who  does 
not,  in  his  own  bosom,  deem  himself  a  great  fellow, 
and  deserving  of  confidence  ? 


52  A  Lord  of  Lands. 

I  was  by  no  means  as  confident  as  I  wished  to 
appear.  In  point  of  fact,  my  assurance  proceeded 
mostly  from  a  certain  obstinacy  of  hope,  which 
would  not  suffer  me  to  think  of  failure,  however 
unpromising  the  outlook,  now  that  the  wish  for  a 
different  life  had  taken  possession  of  me.  To  such 
a  pitch  of  intensity  had  that  wish  risen,  that  I  was 
fairly  consumed  with  it,  and  the  thought  of  its  being 
denied  me  at  last  was  more  than  I  could  bear,  though 
all  the  while  I  knew  only  too  well  there  was  only  the 
narrowest  chance  of  anything  but  denial.  And 
when  I  saw  what  the  temper  of  these  people  was, 
how  that  the  least  wavering  on  my  part,  just  now, 
was  likely  to  spoil  everything,  you  will  readily  be- 
lieve that  I  was  strongly  moved  to  assume  the  air 
of  perfect  confidence,  however  far  from  being  con- 
fident I  really  was.  It  lay  perfectly  plain  before  me 
that  the  structure  which  we  had  reared  with  all 
these  difificulties  rested,  for  the  time  being,  as  upon 
a  species  of  temporary  false-work,  upon  me.  My 
resolution  supported  their  resolution,  as  matters 
stood,  and  until  their  resolution  should  be  firmly 
fixed,  like  mortar  in  a  wall,  the  false-work  must 
stand  staunch.  The  first  sign  of  doubt  or  hesitancy 
on  my  part  might  well  bring  everything  down  in 
ruin  all  but  hopeless,  for  if  they  were  to  lapse  back 
into  the  slough  of  despond  now,  what  was  ever  to 
lift  them  out  again?  If  I  acted  a  lie,  let  it  stand  so, 
and  I  will  cheerfully  take  the  consequences.  It  was 
an  important  moment,  for  me,  and  for  them.  After 
all  the  labor  and  worry  of  getting  the  situation  in 


A  Lord  of  Lands.  53 

hand,  I  was  not  the  man  to  let  it  slip  away  from  me 
for  the  lack  of  a  bit  of  bluff. 

"  About  how  much  money,"  said  I,  quietly,  when 
nobody  else  spoke,  "  is  it  going  to  take  ?  " 

At  that,  I  could  gather  from  their  faces,  they  were 
doubting  whether  I  had  not  gone  clean  out  of  my 
head,  excepting  Ludovika,  of  course,  who  bridled 
warmly,  divining  the  thought  of  the  others  and  re- 
senting it,  as  became  a  faithful  wife.  But  straight- 
way, before  they  could  give  way  much  to  their  sus- 
picions, I  fell  to  figuring,  out  loud,  being  most 
highly  primed  for  the  purpose.  By  this  I  thought 
to  get  them  involved  in  a  computation,  and  to  start 
anew  the  bickerings  and  chafferings  over  details, 
whereby  their  misgivings  should  the  more  easily  be 
forgotten. 

*'  Suppose,"  I  said,  "  we  pay  ten  dollars  an  acre 
for  our  land.  I  am  told  that  so  much  will  still  buy 
very  good  land,  well  situated,  and  it  will  put  a  debt 
of  only  four  hundred  dollars  on  each  family." 

Still  nobody  answered  a  word.  They  were  too 
much  astonished,  now.  They  were  staggered  by  my 
easy  view  of  a  debt  of  four  hundred  dollars,  which 
you  will  understand  was  a  sheer  affectation  on  my 
part,  for  no  one  in  his  heart  could  be  more  fright- 
ened by  the  thought  of  such  a  thing  than  I  was. 
But  for  all  their  astonishment,  and  silence,  they  were 
beginning  to  think  a  little,  feebly,  and  to  wonder 
about  the  merits  of  the  proposal,  though  in  a  dazed 
way.  Watching  their  faces  narrowly  all  the  time,  I 
knew  pretty  well  what  was  in  their  minds. 

**  Now  I  ask    our    friends    who     are    practical 


54  A  Lord  of  Lands. 

builders/'  I  went  on,  still  in  the  serene  tone  of  a 
purely  business  talk,  "  if  it  is  not  possible  to  get  up 
a  house  fit  for  a  family  to  live  in,  for  another  four 
hundred  dollars?  " 

And  here  I  had  them.  My  question  drew  the 
carpenters  out,  forthwith,  since  it  touched  their  pro- 
fessional pride,  and  when  a  discussion  had  sprung 
up  among  them,  the  others  could  not  long  hold 
aloof.  Every  man  believes  himself  above  all  else 
practical,  and  possessed  of  at  least  a  rudimentary 
knowledge  of  the  commoner  trades  which  have  to 
do  with  building.  As  for  a  dwelling-house,  how 
it  should  be  put  up  and  what  it  need  cost,  this  is 
especially  a  point  on  which  every  man  deems  him- 
self competent  to  speak,  and  now,  with  the  carpen- 
ters laying  down  the  law,  the  others  were  not  slow 
to  take  it  up,  and  move  amendments,  so  to  say,  and 
argue  their  several  contentions,  all  of  which  served 
admirably  the  purpose  of  keeping  up  the  interest  at 
a  fever  height,  while  crowding  the  really  hard  ques- 
tions somewhat  into  the  background. 

Nor  were  good,  solid  results  lacking.  We  were 
able  to  assure  ourselves,  thus,  that  we  might  get  up 
as  good  a  house  for  four  hundred  dollars  as  would 
ordinarily  cost  twice  that  sum,  and  this  in  virtue  of 
the  strength  which  lies  in  union.  Because  we  had 
three  carpenters  among  us,  to  build  our  houses,  and 
the  rest  of  us  in  a  position  to  repay  them  with  labor, 
such  as  the  breaking  up  of  their  land,  the  soaring  of 
their  seed,  and  all  the  like  of  that, — because  of  these 
things,  I  say,  the  cost  of  the  buildings,  in  money,  was 
virtually  cut  in  two  in  the  middle.    We  threshed  the 


A  Lord  of  Lands.  55 

straw  over  thoroughly  and  were  quite  agreed,  at 
length,  that  there  was  no  reason  why  we  should  not 
have  a  very  good  sort  of  house,  as  we  were  used  to 
thinking  of  houses,  comfortable  as  need  be,  even 
though  not  highly  finished,  for  four  hundred  dollars, 
and  what  warmed  our  hearts  especially,  a  house  not 
less  than  vast  in  its  proportions,  as  compared  with 
the  coops  in  which  we  had  always  lived.  It  made  the 
women  stare  and  gasp  when  we  spoke  seriously  of 
a  kitchen  fifteen  feet  square,  as  if  they  found  them- 
selves at  a  loss  to  grapple  with  the  notion. 

When  we  had  settled  everything  about  the  houses, 
to  our  satisfaction,  and  there  was  a  lull  in  the  talk 
for  lack  of  material,  I  came  forward  once  more,  for 
I  had  been  very  willing  to  take  an  inconspicuous  part 
in  the  proceedings,  as  long  as  they  could  be  induced 
to  go  on  without  me,  not  from  any  lack  of  vanity, 
but  because  I  had  wit  enough  to  perceive  that  while 
I  was  not  to  be  backward,  I  was  not  to  put  on  airs, 
either.  We  were  not  done  with  computation  and 
finance,  yet. 

"  If  we  add  tw^o  hundred  dollars  for  incidental  ex- 
penses," said  I,  '*  and  this  is  a  generous  allowance, 
because  at  first  we  can  own  tools  and  teams  in 
common,  and  after  the  first  few  months  our  keep 
will  come  out  of  the  land,  but  adding  two  hundred 
dollars  in  order  to  be  sure  and  safe,  we  have  a  debt 
on  each  family  of  a  thousand  dollars.  Now  what  is 
a  debt  of  a  thousand  dollars  for  a  strong,  brave 
family  to  bear?  " 

I  need  not  tell  you  that  a  thousand  dollars  was  an 
enormous  sum,  to  us,  not  more  so  to  my  friends  than 


5  6  A  Lord  of  Lands. 

to  me,  though  I  smiled  placidly  while  they,  all  about 
me,  were  ready  to  faint,  almost.  But  was  not  that 
owing  to  the  narrow  way  of  looking  at  affairs,  into 
which  we  had  fallen?  I  conceived  that  it  was.  For 
a  man  who  had  never  in  his  life  possessed  more  than 
fifty  dollars  at  once,  or  some  such  matter,  and  that 
only  during  the  few  hours,  or  perhaps  minutes,  it 
took  him  to  distribute  it  about  among  his  creditors, 
a  debt  of  a  thousand  dollars,  supposing,  by  any 
stretch  of  imagination,  that  he  could  possibly  con- 
tract such  a  debt,  bore  an  uncomfortable  likeness  to 
an  Alpine  avalanche,  or  something  equally  over- 
whelming, but  that,  I  had  persuaded  myself,  was  no 
proof  that  he  might  not  have  another  idea  of  it,  put 
him  in  different  circumstances.  And  this  was  the 
point  which  I  had  now  to  bring  out,  clearly. 

"  The  interest  on  a  thousand  dollars,  at  six  per 
cent,"  said  I,  glibly,  having  made  my  calculations  all 
in  advance,  *'  would  be  sixty  dollars  a  year,  or  five 
dollars  a  month,  or  a  dollar  and  a  quarter  a  week,  or 
some  twenty  cents  a  day.  That  is  something  less 
than  any  of  us  pays  for  rent,  as  the  case  stands,  and 
when  we  live  in  our  own  houses,  we  shall  save  the 
rent.  Of  course,  we've  no  reason  to  fear  a  debt  of 
a  thousand  dollars.  We  can  carry  it  easily.  You 
are  thinking  of  the  impossibility  of  carrying  such  a 
burden,  in  addition  to  your  present  burdens,  and  in 
the  face  of  all  your  present  uncertainty,  when  that 
is  not  the  way  of  it  at  all.  In  point  of  fact,  this  new 
burden  will  take  the  place  of  your  present  burdens, 
doing  away  with  them  altogether,  and  with  this 


A   Lord  of  Lands.  57 

great  gain  that  it  will  give  you  certainty  instead  of 
uncertainty." 

Who  is  there,  no  matter  how  sorely  poverty  may 
have  stricken  him,  but  delights  to  dabble  in  high 
finance,  in  theory?  It  is  the  most  agreeable  of  all 
planning,  I  suppose.  My  speech  was  rather  long, 
which  circumstance  gave  our  friends  opportunity  to 
get  their  breaths  and  collect  their  thoughts,  and  I 
was  hardly  done  when  somebody  took  up  the  thread, 
not  to  break  it  with  doubts,  if  you  will  believe  me, 
but  to  add  strands  to  it,  with  opinions,  as  to  rates  of 
interest,  and  all  that,  put  forward  somewhat  gingerly 
at  first,  perhaps,  but  more  and  more  with  the  confi- 
dent, expert  air,  until  presently  they  were  all  at  it 
again,  figuring  away  in  a  warm  glow  of  earnestness. 

But  that  could  not  last  forever.  There  were  diffi- 
culties, and  putting  them  off  by  no  means  disposed 
of  them.  It  was  Flavin  who  arrived  first  at  the 
river,  so  to  say,  and  asked  how  we  were  to  get  over, 
and  I  was  not  surprised  at  this,  for  the  Irish  have 
discernment.  Flavin  is  Irish,  you  will  recall.  His 
given  name  is  Patrick  Sarsfield.  If  my  grandfather, 
or  my  father,  even,  for  that  matter,  although  he  was 
not  the  bigot  his  ancestors  were,  could  know  of  me 
sustaining  relations  of  amity  with  a  man  christened 
Patrick  Sarsfield,  I  doubt  not  he  would  turn  in  his 
grave.  But  the  merciful  Lord  forbid  I  should  hold 
any  of  the  ancient  grudge  when  there  is  no  longer 
any  ground  for  it.  A  truer  man  than  Flavin  never 
lived. 

''  What  security  have  we  to  put  up,"   said  he, 


S8 


A  Lord  of  Lands. 


"  that  should  ever  induce  any  man  in  his  senses  to 
lend  the  likes  of  us  a  thousand  dollars?" 

"  Plenty  of  it,"  said  I,  stoutly,  for  here  was  the 
rub,  and  I  needed  all  my  brass  in  order  not  to  seem 
dashed.  "  A  very  great  abundance  of  the  best 
security." 

Flavin  shook  his  head.  He  was  not  to  be  blamed. 
Though  by  nature  of  a  temper  most  buoyant,  he  was 
just  after  closing  up  an  account  with  a  chattel- 
mortgage  shark,  who  had  very  nearly  skinned  him, 
what  with  the  outrageous  interest  he  charged,  and 
all  because  of  the  poor  man  having  no  security  to 
put  up.  It  was  no  wonder  if  he  took  the  gloomy 
view,  and  could  think  of  nothing  but  the  security. 

And  now,  a  silence  having  fallen  on  the  others, 
I  ran  on  again,  something  in  this  wise : 

"  Men  and  women,  I  tell  you,  the  main  security  is 
our  standing  together,  our  being  loyal  to  one  an- 
other, and  willing  to  endure  hardship  in  the  hope 
and  promise  of  better  things  to  come,  content  with 
little,  in  the  prospect  of  more,  glad  to  call  it  enough 
even  though  it  should  be  a  good  deal  less  than  we 
like.  It  is  not  the  money  so  much  that  we  need  be 
asking  about,  as  it  is  the  heart  in  us  to  carry  the 
business  through.  Have  we  the  heart?  If  we  have, 
that  is  the  security  for  the  money.  This  may  sound 
like  a  fairy-story  to  you,  but  I  know  what  I  am  talk- 
ing about,  and  if  you  will  only  think  of  the  matter 
a  little,  you  will  see  I  am  right.  If  we  are  together, 
to  stay  together,  we've  got  over  tlie  hardest  part  of 
the  way,  but  mind  what  I  say,  to  stay  together. 
Consider  all  that  that  means.    If,  here  and  now,  we 


A   Lord  of  Lands.  59 

can  take  one  another  by  the  hand,  and  pass  the 
solemn  word  that  we  will  stand  by,  and  be  patient 
under  all  trials,  and  put  up  bravely  with  one  an- 
other's faults,  if  we  can  do  this,  then  I  engage  to  go 
out  and  get  what  money  we  need,  or,  what  comes  to 
the  same  thing,  the  credit.  I  will  say  that  I  already 
have  assurances,  and  I  would  gladly  say  more,  for 
I  wish  to  have  no  secrets  from  you,  but  until  these 
assurances  take  more  definite  form,  I  must  stop  with 
this.  Now,  my  friends,  are  we  together  ?  Have  we, 
in  other  words,  the  security  to  pledge?  " 

Well,  with  that,  we  shook  hands  on  it,  all  round, 
in  three  sessions,  if  I  remember  aright,  and  for  each 
of  these  I  had  to  repeat  my  speech,  or  the  substance 
of  it.  It  got  to  be  something  stilted  and  perfunctory, 
at  last,  till  I  feared  for  the  effect  of  it,  but  having 
carried  the  first  session,  I  had  the  help  of  their  in- 
fluence with  the  second,  and  when  that  had  been  car- 
ried, there  was  a  double  weight  to  help  with  the 
third.  Only  Ludovika  heard  me  upon  all  three 
occasions,  and  she,  far  from  experiencing  a  lessening 
of  interest  by  reason  of  the  repetition,  was  carried 
to  a  higher  pitch  of  emotion  each  time,  until,  after 
it  w^as  all  over,  she  confided  in  me  the  belief  that  an 
initiation  into  the  Royal  Neighbors  could  hardly  be 
more  moving  than  our  little  ceremony  had  been. 
Ludovika  was  ever  far  too  strict  in  her  religious 
notions  to  belong  to  a  society  outside  her  church,  but 
whatever  was  veiled  in  secrecy  had  a  great  fascina- 
tion for  her. 

Flavin  was  the  last  member  to  take  me  by  the 
hand,  not  from  any  backwardness  or  hesitancy,  but 


6o  A  Lord  of  Lands. 

merely  by  accident.  He  gave  me  a  good  Irish  grip, 
that  sent  a  warmth  to  the  cockles  of  my  heart. 
There  was  no  doubting  Flavin,  but  he  would  have 
his  word. 

*'  It  strikes  me,"  said  he,  "  that  we've  gone  and 
built  a  very  fine  castle  in  the  air." 

"  We  have,  my  friend,"  said  I.  "  We  have  so. 
And  now,  if  you  please,  we'll  proceed  to  rope  it 
down  to  earth  and  live  in  it." 

This  flash  of  pleasantry,  though  nothing  very 
witty,  raised  a  laugh,  and  served  very  well  to  make 
end  of  the  solemnity,  which  had  gone  far  enough. 

Often  and  often  have  I  wondered  since,  just  how 
much  faith  those  people  put  in  me,  that  time,  and  in 
later  years  I  have  asked  them  about  it,  but  without 
getting  a  definite  reply.  They  appear  not  to  be  able 
to  tell  me.  Quite  likely  they  were  somewhat  of  my 
own  mind,  of  which  I  can  only  say  that  as  I  look 
back  upon  it,  I  seem  to  have  been  dreaming.  It  is 
all  very  like  a  dream,  now,  hard  to  grasp  in  its 
details. 


CHAPTER  IV. 

And  now  we  come  to  the  other  bit  of  print  I  have 
mentioned,  the  auspicious  bit,  this  time. 

Far  enough  am  I  from  believing  all  I  read  in  the^ 
newspapers.  With  the  fever  of  curiosity  which  pos- 
sesses the  common  mind,  in  these  days,  driving  the 
journalists  to  be  continually  guessing  at  events 
which  have  not  as  yet  come  to  pass,  and  even  to  be 
fabricating  events,  the  wonder  is  that  we  have  as 
much  as  a  kernel  of  fact  to  a  bushel  of  lies.  Nor  be- 
cause the  newspapers  garnish  an  item  with  flaring 
headlines  do  I  feel  compelled  to  estimate  its  import- 
ance accordingly,  for  that  trick  is  too  transparent  to 
fool  even  a  dull  man.  Notwithstanding  all  this,  it 
was  a  piece  out  of  a  newspaper  which  gave  me  the 
courage  to  say  what  I  had  said  to  my  friends,  and 
the  assurances  which  I  spoke,  in  my  confident  man- 
ner, of  having  had,  were  nothing  more  than  the  as- 
surances it  contained.  Why  I  believed  in  it  above 
the  mass  of  matter  it  was  buried  in,  or  how  it  ever 
came  to  catch  my  eye  at  all,  what  with  the  cursory 
way  I  had  of  reading,  in  those  days,  I  shall  not 
venture  to  say.  I  cannot  help  but  notice,  whenever 
I  intimate  to  anybody  that  I  was  under  the  guidance 
of  a  higher  power,  that  I  challenge  doubt,  though 
it   should   not   be   expressed   otherwise   than   by   a 


62  A  Lord  of  Lands. 

queer  look  of  the  eye,  and  very  likely  it  is  presump- 
tion in  me  to  think  of  a  higher  power  taking  so 
much  trouble  in  so  small  a  matter. 

But  whether  or  no,  this  bit  of  print  took  hold  of 
me.  I  have  it  yet,  spread  under  a  bit  of  glass  to 
save  it  from  being  quite  worn  out,  which  it  falls  but 
little  short  of,  through  having  been  carried  during 
many  years  in  my  pocket-book,  and  often  taken  out 
and  read,  and  inasmuch  as  it  is  not  long,  I  will  quote 
it  to  you  in  full : 

"The  Toronto  Globe  recently  announced  that  Mr.  William  Whyte, 
second  vice-president  of  the  Canadian  Pacific,  has  for  several  months 
had  under  consideration  a  proposition  for  the  subsidizing  of  British 
immigrants  on  a  scheme  of  big  proportions.  It  is  proposed  that  the 
railway  company  build  houses  and  farm  buildings  on  lands  which  it 
sells  to  British  immigrants,  allowing  them  to  pay  for  the  improve- 
ments, as  well  as  the  land,  on  long  annual  instalments." 

When  I  read  this,  it  came  over  me,  as  with  a 
flash  of  light,  which  I  suppose  was  inspiration  as 
it  befalls  an  ordinary  man,  that  it  was  after  all 
something  besides  the  possession  of  material,  tang- 
ible property  which  gave  a  person  credit  in  the 
world  of  finance,  cold  and  heartless  though  that 
world  undoubtedly  was.  Here  was  a  great  corpora- 
tion, devoid  of  soul,  with  not  so  much  as  a  spark  of 
sympathy  about  it,  seriously  thinking  of  trusting 
penniless  immigrants  in  the  sum  of  hundreds,  per- 
haps thousands  of  dollars,  each.  The  only  condition 
was  that  they  should  be  British,  and  what  that  sig- 
nified, at  least  in  the  view  of  the  Canadian  Pacific, 
there  was  no  doubting.  These  British  immigrants 
were  thought,   by   that   token,  to   have   character. 


A   Lord  of  Lands.  63 

Their  being  British  was  taken  as  a  proof  of  charac- 
ter, and  what  it  all  came  to  was  that  capital  stood 
ready  and  willing  to  take  character  as  security  for 
money  lent,  I  mean,  of  course,  capital  as  it  lay  in  the 
hands  of  the  great  men,  the  real  captains  of  industry, 
and  not  as  its  courses  were  directed  by  the  chattel- 
mortgage  sharks  and  other  small  fry.  If  a  man 
could  prove  his  character,  he  might  borrow  money 
on  it,  even  though  he  had  not  a  coat  to  his  back. 

Nor  was  this  all  the  good  cheer  my  bit  of  print 
yielded  me.  There  was  in  it  moreover  an  intimation 
of  the  great  wish  railway  companies  have  to  fill 
up  their  territory  with  farms,  and  the  intimation  was 
all  the  stronger  with  the  reason  of  it  lying  on  the 
surface.  Farms  meant  freight  and  passengers  to 
carry,  that  is  to  say,  business  for  the  companies.  A 
million  acres  raising  corn,  instead  of  weeds  and 
brambles,  should  inure  something  to  the  stock- 
holders, such  that  they  could  afford  to  go  to  con- 
siderable expense  to  bring  about  the  change.  It  was 
not  out  of  charity  that  the  Canadian  Pacific  would 
trust  these  immigrants,  but  out  of  a  keen  commercial 
sense  scenting  profit.  There  was  benefit  to  accrue 
to  both  parties.  The  immigrants  would  not  be 
more  beholden  to  the  company  than  the  company  to 
the  immigrants.  In  short,  it  was,  in  the  best  sense, 
a  bargain. 

The  more  I  explored  the  ground  of  my  new  hope, 
the  firmer  it  appeared  to  be,  though  I  was  careful 
to  bridle  my  enthusiasm  and  to  hold  myself,  as  far 
as  I  could,  to  a  strictly  businesslike  view.  If  only 
some  railway  company,  with  vast  lands  hungering 


64  A  Lord  of  Lands. 

for  settlers,  worthless  as  they  stood,  yet  holding  the 
richest  possibilities, — if  such  a  company  could  be 
made  to  see  us  as  we  were,  why  not  farms  for  us, 
also,  with  buildings  already  built,  plenty  of  time  to 
pay  for  them,  and  comfortable  homes  to  live  in  the 
while?  To  be  sure,  the  condition  was  no  easy  one, 
and  I  knew  it  for  what  it  was.  Character  was  a 
hard  thing  to  prove,  even  by  long  trial,  and  who 
who  were  we  to  expect  shrewd  men  to  suspend 
their  habitual  distrust  in  our  favor?  In  point  of 
fact,  it  looked  very  like  no  thoroughfare,  a  final  halt 
then  and  there,  only  that  I  thought  I  knew  a  man 
to  turn  to,  who  certainly  could  help  us,  and  perhaps 
would. 

This  man  was  none  other  than  Jones  Baring. 

Jones  Baring  was  the  president,  great  man,  and 
master  mind  of  a  railway  built  out  through  the 
newest  part  of  the  country,  where  most  of  the  land 
was  still  unoccupied.  These  facts  amply  attested  his 
ability  to  help  us.  As  for  the  other  part,  his  will- 
ingness, it  was  encouraging  to  reflect  that  he  was 
famous  as  a  philanthropist.  Of  course  I  had  no 
notion  in  the  world  of  appealing  to  charity,  and 
indeed  would  have  resented  any  offer  of  charitable 
assistance,  but  none  the  less  it  was  a  comfort  to 
recall  that  this  man  was  known  as  a  kindly  man, 
who  was  never  too  deeply  engrossed  with  making 
money  to  have  a  thought  for  less  able  and  less 
fortunate  fellows  (and  to  discredit  no  man's  ability, 
and  least  of  all  Jones  Baring's,  no  ability  will  avail 
without  opportunity,  and  opportunity  is  the  feast 
which  the  many  lay  for  the  few  to  eat,  wherefore  the 


A  Lord  of  Lands.  65 

great  owe  something  to  the  small  and  should  never 
forget  the  debt,  although  plenty  of  them  do).  But 
what  more  than  anything  else  put  me  in  mind  of 
Jones  Baring,  was  the  circumstance  of  his  being  my 
boss.  By  this  I  mean  that  it  was  in  the  employ  of  his 
railway  I  worked,  along  with  many  hundreds  of 
other  switchmen,  and  many  thousands  of  the  various 
crafts  connected  with  the  business.  But  thousands 
though  we  were,  all  of  us,  down  to  the  section  hands 
and  wipers,  took  a  pride  in  the  president,  as  if  he 
were  in  some  sense  ours,  and  boasted  of  his  great 
and  good  deeds,  and  took  to  ourselves  a  certain 
credit  for  them,  and  whoever  should  speak  dis- 
paragingly of  Jones  Baring  in  the  presence  of  any 
of  Jones  Baring's  men,  never  went  unanswered. 

When  I  say  I  knew^  him,  you  are  to  understand 
no  more  than  this,  that  I  had  often  seen  the  Old  Man 
(it  was  thus  we  called  him,  out  of  affection,  wholly, 
and  without  a  thought  of  disrespect)  and  had  what 
might,  by  some  stretch,  be  termed  a  bowing 
acquaintance  with  him.  That  is  to  say,  I  made  bold 
to  bow  to  him,  whenever  I  met  him,  whereupon  he 
invariably  bowed  back,  with  a  pleased  look,  though 
I  could  see  he  did  not  place  me  in  the  least,  what 
with  all  the  myriads  of  more  important  men  he  had 
to  keep  in  mind.  Once  upon  a  time  he  had  stopped 
to  speak  with  me.  It  was  down  in  the  yards  where 
I  was  at  work.  He  conceived  a  curiosity  concern- 
ing something  I  was  helping  to  do,  and,  for  the 
reason  that  I  was  nearest  to  him,  asked  me  about 
it.  We  had  quite  a  little  talk,  and  he  displayed  an 
ignorance  of  the  business  which  I  now  suspect  v*^as 

5 


66  A  Lord  of  Lands. 

mostly  assumed  for  some  purpose  of  his  own,  but 
which  I  was  enormously  proud  to  enlighten,  and  at 
the  moment  took  to  be  quite  genuine.  I  retained 
the  pleasantest  recollection  of  that  lonely  inter- 
view, for  it  seemed  to  argue  him  an  approachable 
person  to  whom  aught  savoring  of  form  and 
ceremony  was  foreign.  Jones  Baring  w^as  our  man, 
I  thought,  and  by  degrees  there  took  possession  of 
me  an  assurance  that  if  I  could  only  get  fairly  at 
him,  to  put  the  matter  before  him  in  its  best  light, 
his  friendly  interest  could  be  w^on.  In  this  I  had 
none  too  much  confidence  in  Jones  Baring,  his  good- 
ness and  greatness,  but  I  had  altogether  too  much  in 
myself,  as  I  presently  discovered.  Writing  these 
lines,  in  my  old  age,  I  marvel  at  nothing  so  much  as 
the  readiness  with  which  I  could  beguile  myself,  in 
those  days.  But  I  am  deeply  thankful  it  was  so, 
for  otherwise  I  never  should  have  had  the  heart  to 
do  what  I  did,  not  that  what  I  did  was  such  a 
brave  thing,  but  it  was  nevertheless  a  thing  which 
no  man  misdoubting  the  outcome  would  ever  set 
himself  to  do. 

Once  more  the  condition  was  a  hard  one.  How 
w^as  I  to  get  to  see  the  Old  Man?  Of  course,  I 
knew  that  in  order  to  be  in  any  sense  master  of  his 
time,  he  had  to  deny  himself  to  many  who  wished  to 
see  him,  leaving  his  visitors  to  hired  underlings 
to  sift  out,  and  all  but  the  most  important  to 
be  turned  away.  Such  business  as  mine  would 
be  given  over  to  some  clerk,  in  the  regular  rou- 
tine, and  I  had  nothing  whatever  to  hope  of  any 
clerk.      Unless   I    could   put   the   case    directly   to 


A  Lord  of  Lands.  67 

the  Old  Man  himself,  it  was  gone  against  me  at 
once.  What  I  had  to  propose  was  too  unusual  to 
be  grasped  in  all  its  significance  by  subordinate 
minds,  set  to  run  in  grooves  like  a  machine, 
untouched  by  imagination.  I  might  as  well  make 
my  talk  to  the  brick  walls  of  the  general  office. 

I  thought  some  of  the  chance  of  the  Old  Man 
happening  along,  as  every  now  and  then  he  did,  for 
he  had  quite  a  fancy  for  nosing  about  to  see  how 
things  were  going,  but,  while  it  was  possible  that  I 
should  catch  him  in  that  way,  there  were  substantial 
objections  to  my  taking  advantage  of  such  a  chance 
meeting.  In  the  first  place,  I  should  be  at  work, 
and  while  my  boss  might  be  pleased  to  talk  with 
me,  about  his  own  business,  and  on  his  own  in- 
itiative, for  me  to  broach  something  of  my  business 
was  quite  another  affair.  I  could  imagine  how  he 
would  freeze  up  into  a  state  of  polite  attention,  even 
if  he  did  not  turn  on  his  heel  and  leave  me  in 
disgust.  Besides,  there  would  be  my  mates  stand- 
ing about,  with  their  ears  open  to  hear  what  I  was 
saying  to  the  president,  and  no  way  to  keep  it  from 
them.  This  last  was  decisive.  I  knew  I  could  not 
do  our  plan  justice,  under  such  circumstances. 

My  next  expedient,  and  the  first  which  I  attempted 
to  put  into  execution,  was  to  get  myself  a  letter  from 
the  walking  delegate  of  our  union,  by  the  power  of 
which  I  should  penetrate  into  the  holy  of  holies 
where  the  Old  Man  kept  himself.  This  walking 
delegate,  who  was  one  Michael  O'Fallon,  was  ac- 
customed to  running  in  and  talking  things  over  in  a 
famiHar  way  with  the  president,   as  often  as  the 


68  A  Lord  of  Lands. 

union  had  a  complaint  to  make,  which  was  about  all 
the  time.  It  was  the  Old  Man's  practice  to  attend 
to  all  the  business  with  the  unions,  in  person,  or 
anyway,  a  good  deal  of  it.  He  used  to  say,  whether 
he  seriously  meant  it  or  not,  that  the  contentment  of 
his  help  was  his  largest  asset  and  he  could  not  afiford 
to  leave  it  to  others  to  look  after,  and  I  verily  believe 
he  lost  nothing  by  his  policy,  since  he  had  a  way 
with  him  in  virtue  of  which  the  boys  were  often 
content  to  give  up  what  the  airs  of  the  average  boss 
would  only  make  them  the  more  determined  to 
have,  to  the  end  that  they  went  away  without  what 
they  came  after,  but  no  less  ready  withal  to  swear 
by  Jones  Baring.  That  was  how  it  came  about  that 
the  several  walking  delegates  were  on  pretty  familiar 
terms  with  the  Old  Man,  and  could  go  in  through 
the  lines  of  sentinels  almost  any  time.  I  have  no 
doubt  a  letter  from  O' Fallon  would  have  procured 
me  the  access  I  sought,  although  I  might  have  had 
to  wait  somewhat.  I  w^as  well  acquainted  w^ith  this 
person,  and  he  was  in  some  degree  obliged  to  me  for 
his  place,  which  was  a  good  deal  sought  after,  for 
I  had  been  a  candidate  myself,  with  a  respectable 
following,  and  had  withdrawn  in  his  favor,  so  that 
I  never  once  dreamed  of  his  making  any  difficulty. 
But  here  I  had  reckoned  without  the  host.  The 
Irish  are  peculiar,  and  I  must  say,  in  candor,  that 
a  sense  of  gratitude  is  not  apt  to  stand  much  in  the 
way  of  their  ambitions,  and  what  is  perhaps  no  less 
unfortunate,  they  are  often  unable  to  carry  authority 
without  swelling  up  most  prodigiously,  to  the  great 
detriment,  not  to  say  complete  extinguishment,  of 


A   Lord  of  Lands.  69 

those  truly  amiable  qualities  which  give  them  their 
charm.  Anyway,  O'Fallon  put  a  block  to  my  wheel, 
too  quick. 

"What  fer?"  says  he,  when  I  had  asked  him 
would  he  give  me  a  letter  which  should  get  me  to 
see  the  Old  Man  face  to  face.  "  What  fer?  "  says 
he,  and  there  was  a  pomposity  about  him  which 
greatly  nettled  me. 

"  What  fer?  "  says  I,  in  a  mocking  way,  for  even 
then  I  knew  better  than  that  the  correct  use  of  the 
language.  "Cat's  fur,"  says  I,  "to  make  kitten 
breeches  of.  None  of  your  business,"  says  I,  forget- 
ful of  what  it  was  I  was  after,  and  thinking  but  to 
wound  him. 

He  was  jealous,  no  less.  He  would  have  none 
but  himself  bask  in  the  sunshine  of  the  royal  pres- 
ence, and  least  of  all  one  who  was  in  some  sense 
a  rival  and  stood  a  show  of  getting  his  place.  If 
I  let  this  fellow,  says  he  to  himself,  enter  the  sacred 
portals,  says  he,  what  may  not  come  of  it?  If  the 
boys  get  to  hear  of  it,  says  he,  what  but  they  may 
get  to  thinking  Matthew  Fitzgerald  would  make  the 
better  walking  delegate?  That  was  the  way  he 
looked  at  it.  I  might  have  put  him  right  with  a 
word,  for  now  I  had  no  ambition  to  be  walking 
delegate,  but  never  the  word  would  I  speak.  I  read 
all  that  was  in  his  little  mind,  and  I  resolved  there 
and  then,  with  more  heat  than  wisdom,  although  it 
proved  to  be  for  the  best  after  all,  to  ask  no  favor  of 
him,  and  with  that,  no  pause  intervening,  I  told  him, 
pointedly,  where  he  could  go  to.  I  was  less  averse 
to  the  employment  of  strong  terms  then  than  I  have 


7©  A    Lord  of  Lands. 

been  since  the  girls  grew  up,  and  I  put  it  to  him 
warm  and  spicy.  Of  course  he  was  made  furiously 
angry  by  my  disrespect.  "  Curse  o'  Crummell !  "  he 
snapped  back  at  me,  and  while  this  may  sound  very 
innocent  to  those  who  do  not  gather  the  implications, 
it  is  in  fact  about  as  insulting  a  remark  as  a  south  of 
Ireland  man  can  have  recourse  to,  in  conversation 
with  a  north  of  Ireland  man.  I  very  well  knew  what 
his  intention  was.  He  meant  to  reflect  on  my  ances- 
try, and  the  manner  of  their  settlement,  and  while 
I  have  in  my  heart  no  rancor  for  what  happened 
hundreds  of  years  ago,  and  is  fit  only  to  be  forgotten 
by  a  generation  pluming  itself  on  its  fine  Christian 
sentiments,  I  was  not  the  man  to  leave  an  open  taunt 
unanswered,  especially  in  the  temper  which  held  me 
at  the  moment,  and  I  answered  him  strictly  in  kind, 
and  my  allusion,  which  I  will  not  write  down 
literally,  threw  Newton  Butler  in  his  face,  and  he 
boiled  in  his  wrath,  while  I  turned  and  left  him, 
pretty  much  ruffled  up  myself. 

It  was  a  foolish  business,  and  the  foolishness  was 
not  all  the  other  fellow's,  either,  but  though  I  had 
been  as  wise  as  Solomon,  the  outcome  would  have 
been  the  same.  There  was  no  getting  to  Jones 
Baring  by  that  way.    And  what  other  was  there? 

When  I  left  O' Fallon,  in  the  manner  I  have 
described  (by  the  by,  a  Kerry  man  told  me,  once  on 
a  time,  saying  a  learned  priest  told  him,  that  by 
good  rights  only  four  families  of  the  old  Irish  could 
put  the  "  O  "  at  the  front  of  their  names,  this  having 
been  originally  the  mark  of  some  sort  of  a  nobility 
among    them.     As    I     recall    them,     not    having 


A  Lord  of  Lands.  71 

especially  charged  my  memory  with  the  matter, 
these  families  are  the  O'Connells,  the  O'Donnells, 
the  O'Briens,  and  the  O'Neils.  I'm  not  so  sure 
about  the  O'Neils  being  on  the  list,  but  one  thing 
I  am  sure  of,  nothing  was  said  about  O'Fallons,  and 
this  would  have  been  a  most  excellent  thing  to  have 
retorted  on  the  fellow,  and  sorry  I  was  not  to  have 
bethought  myself  of  it  until  later) — when  I  left 
this  person,  I  was  that  wrought  up  and  heated 
I  was  hardly  aware  of  what  I  did  next,  or  what 
my  purpose  was  in  doing  it.  In  the  natural  course, 
I  came  to  my  senses  presently,  to  find  myself 
walking  off  as  if  I  wore  the  seven  league  boots, 
headed  straight  for  the  general  offices,  and  already 
half-way  there.  I  asked  myself  what  I  intended, 
and  could  not  well  answer,  but  still  I  kept  on, 
though  perhaps  at  a  lesser  speed,  what  with  my 
uncertainty.  But  as  I  went,  I  considered,  and  as 
I  considered  I  grew  bolder,  until  at  length  I 
was  conscious  of  a  purpose  to  proceed  manfully  to 
Jones  Baring's  door,  and  ask  to  see  him,  all  without 
credentials  apart  from  my  decent  appearance. 
Why  should  I  not,  since  I  was  a  free  citizen  of  a  free 
country,  and  Jones  Baring  himself  was  not  more? 
And  with  that  I  came  to  the  general  offices. 

It  was  a  great  hive  of  a  place,  such  as  I  was  not 
at  all  used  to  being  in,  full  of  the  deafening  clatter 
of  telegraph  keys  and  writing  machines,  and  people 
swarming  in  and  out  like  angry  bees  whom  it  were 
not  safe  to  touch  or  in  the  least  interfere  with,  until 
I  was  all  but  made  giddy  dodging  them.  It  was, 
as  you  may  say,  the  great  seething  brain  of  the 


72  A  Lord  of  Lands. 

railway,  and  the  various  departments,  designated  by 
lettering  on  the  doors,  were  those  amazing  cells, 
wherein  thoughts  and  impulses  have  their  rise. 
Anyway,  it  was  a  very  wonderful  place,  and  I  was 
pretty  much  lost  in  looking  about  me,  when  a  man 
with  a  brusk,  though  not  unfriendly  manner,  an 
Irishman,  once  more,  if  there  is  any  significance  in 
blue  eyes  with  black  hair,  came  up  to  me  and  asked 
me  what  I  wanted.  And  now  I  put  on  my  suavest 
manner,  having  taken  a  firm  resolution  not  to  be 
trapped  into  any  further  display  of  temper,  and  hav- 
ing well  before  my  mind,  moreover,  the  danger  of 
being  taken  for  an  anarchist  with  foul  designs,  but 
all  of  this  without  abating  anything  of  a  fitting 
dignity,  and  told  him  I  had  come  to  see  Mr.  Jones 
Baring,  and  would  he  be  so  kind  as  to  inform  me 
where  I  might  find  that  gentleman?  He  shot  a 
rather  suspicious  glance  at  me,  I  thought,  but  with- 
out hesitation  pointed  me  to  the  furthest  corner  of 
the  ground  floor.  He  did  not  ask  me  what  my 
business  was  with  Mr.  Baring,  which  made  me 
wonder,  at  last,  if  I  was  not  mistaken  as  to  his 
nationality. 

In  the  corner  indicated  I  found  a  door,  in  a 
general  way  not  differing  from  the  many  doors 
which  I  had  passed  to  reach  it,  but  with  the  words, 
The  President,  painted  across  its  glass  panels.  This, 
then,  was  the  primary  cell  of  the  brain,  the  very 
marrow.  There  was  nobody  standing  guard  out- 
side, not  less  to  my  astonishment  than  to  my  relief. 
Was  it  such  an  easy  matter  to  get  to  the  Old  Man, 
after  all  ?    I  opened  the  door,  with  my  heart  in  mji 


A  Lord  of  Lands.  73 

throat,  in  a  way,  yet  elated  withal  at  the  prospect  of 
coming  at  once  to  the  object  of  my  desires,  and  went 
in.  I  expected  to  find  the  Old  Man,  right  there 
and  then,  in  my  ignorance,  as  you  may  call  it,  for 
ignorant  I  was  of  the  ways  of  the  world  into  which 
I  had  penetrated,  and  I  was  taken  a  good  deal  aback 
to  discover  nobody  in  the  room  but  a  strange  youth 
with  a  cold  eye,  which  he  fixed  upon  me  in  a  manner 
no  less  than  disconcerting.  After  he  had  looked  me 
through  rather  than  over,  to  his  satisfaction,  which 
he  was  only  an  instant  doing,  he  asked  me,  politely 
enough,  what  he  could  do  for  me,  and  when  I  repUed 
that  I  wished  to  see  Mr.  Baring,  he  waved  me  to- 
ward a  door  at  the  other  side,  and  bade  me  to 
walk  in.  It  has  ever  been  a  puzzle  to  me,  why  he 
let  me  go  by  him,  that  day.  I  suspect  it  may  have 
been  because  he  saw  that  I  was  a  workingman,  and 
deemed  it  prudent  to  indulge  me,  knowing  the  Old 
Man's  way  with  his  help.  But  at  all  events,  this 
functionary,  whom  I  came  to  call,  for  my  own  pur- 
poses, the  grand  outer  guard,  passed  me  on. 

Well,  to  make  a  long  story  short,  the  Old  Man 
was  not  in  the  next  room,  either,  but  the  man  who 
was  there,  the  grand  inner  guard,  according  to  my 
way  of  designating  him,  was  quite  as  wonderfully 
obliging  as  the  other  fellow  had  been,  no  doubt  for 
the  same  reason,  which,  as  I  say,  I  do  not  pretend  to 
fathom,  and  when  I  assured  him,  respectfully,  but 
with  something  of  the  air  of  insisting,  that  I  wished 
to  confer  with  Mr.  Baring  personally,  he  suffered 
me  to  proceed,  into  the  room  beyond.  Now  I  was 
in  high  hope.    In  this  room,  I  told  myself,  as  I  laid 


74  A  Lord  of  Lands. 

my  hand  on  the  brass  knob  of  the  door,  I  should 
find  the  old  man. 

I  was  mistaken,  still.  There  was  nobody,  nor  was 
there  any  desk,  only  some  chairs  and  a  sofa.  But 
I  had  barely  a  moment  to  look  about  me,  and  to 
begin  to  wonder  what  next,  when  there  entered 
from  the  opposite  side  a  very  civil  negro,  who  knew 
how  to  ask  impertinent  questions  without  seeming 
to  be  impertinent,  a  remarkable  gift  in  one  of  his 
race,  who,  by  reason  of  the  unhappy  and  unjust 
odium  which  clings  to  their  color,  get  themselves 
thought  presumptuous  by  doing  no  more  than  other 
men  do  without  offense.  He  asked  me  what  my 
name  was,  and  what  I  wanted.  I  was  very  ready 
to  tell  him  my  name,  but  as  for  the  rest,  I  repeated 
what  I  had  said  to  the  others,  that  my  business 
was  with  Mr.  Baring.  With  an  extremely  affable 
bow,  which  somehow  confirmed  me  in  my  belief 
that  I  was  getting  forward,  the  darkey  vanished 
through  the  door  he  had  come  in  by.  But  he  was 
back  in  a  twinkling,  and  bowed  again,  and  stood 
holding  the  door  open  for  me  to  pass  on. 

Here,  beyond  any  possibility  of  doubt,  I  thought, 
the  Old  Man  would  be  found.  I  had  my  greeting 
ready  at  the  tip  of  my  tongue,  the  greeting  which  I 
had  carefully  composed  and  conned  over,  and  I 
was  stricken  dumb,  quite,  when  I  encountered,  not 
Jones  Baring,  whose  rugged  face  and  stalwart  figure 
I  well  knew,  but  a  frail,  pallid  little  man,  the  most 
colorless  human  being  I  ever  saw,  without  any  ex- 
ception. His  skin  was  faded,  his  eyes  were  faded, 
and  his  hair  was  faded.     Much  of  his  hair,  indeed, 


A  Lord  of  Lands.  75 

had  faded  quite  away,  and  the  Httle  that  remained, 
being  of  the  exact  color  of  his  skin,  was  to  be  seen 
only  on  the  closest  scrutiny. 

"  This  must  be  the  grand  eunuch,"  I  said  to  my- 
self, being  that  disappointed,  and  out  of  patience 
with  all  the  ceremony,  which  of  course  I  had  no 
right  to  be.  But  I  did  not  forget  my  manners,  and 
my  outward  demeanor,  I  believe,  was  sufficiently 
good. 

The  man  looked  up  at  me  in  a  wesk  and  watery 
way. 

"What  is  your  business  with  Mr.  Baring?"  he 
said. 

For  the  fourth  time,  now,  I  explained  that  I 
wished  to  see  Mr  Baring  personally.  My  business, 
I  said,  was  of  such  a  nature  that  no  one  but  him- 
self could  well  attend  to  it.  The  man  paused  in  the 
work  he  was  doing,  while  I  spoke,  and  listened,  and 
looked  me  over,  swiftly.  It  was  a  meaning  glance 
which  he  gave  me,  none  of  your  fiery,  stinging, 
disdainful  glances,  but  carrying  its  burden  of  mean- 
ing, none  the  less.  I  knew  he  was  making  up  his 
mind,  and  that  easily,  that  no  person  of  my  stamp 
could  possibly  have  any  such  business  with  the 
president  as  nobody  else  could  attend  to. 

"  Mr.  Baring,"  he  said,  when  I  had  finished,  "  is 
engaged  at  present." 

It  was  a  marvel  how  much  like  a  stone  wall  in 
my  way  this  mere  whiffet  of  a  fellow  made  himself 
seem.  I  thought  of  pleading  with  him,  and  at 
once  I  was  aware  that  I  might  as  well  whistle  to  beat 
the  wind. 


76  A   Lord  of  Lands. 

"When  may  I  see  Mr.  Baring?"  I  asked,  very 
submissively. 

"  That  is  quite  uncertain,"  answered  the  man. 
"  He  is  very  busy  at  all  times." 

And  with  that  he  contrived  something  of  a  myster- 
ious nature,  something  which  was  neither  a  word, 
nor  a  look,  nor  a  gesture,  but  more  like  an  impalp- 
able emanation  thrown  out  in  what  way  I  could 
never  guess,  though  I  have  thought  of  the  matter 
much,  and  the  instant  effect  of  it  was  to  make  me 
understand,  reluctant  though  I  was  to  give  up,  that 
he  was  done  with  me,  would  have  no  more  of  me, 
and  the  quicker  I  got  out,  the  better  it  would  be 
for  me.  He  spoke  not  another  word,  and  he  gave 
me  not  another  glance,  and  he  went  back  to  his  work 
as  if  I  was  not  there,  but  all  the  while  he  was  casting 
out  his  emanation,  and  before  I  well  knew  what 
I  was  about,  I  was  passing  out,  by  the  inner  guard, 
and  the  outer  guard,  into  the  public  corridor. 

It  was  a  flat,  flat  failure.  I  had  no  right  to  be  cast 
down  by  it  for  it  was  at  best  a  chase  after  a  rainbow, 
but  I  was  cast  down,  notwithstanding.  Such  is  the 
character  of  the  sanguine  temper.  It  never  dis- 
counts the  effect  of  defeat,  by  anticipating  the  sting 
thereof,  but  revels  in  the  joy  of  imaginary  victory, 
and  so  gets  itself  prostrated  by  the  very  quality  of 
its  hopefulness.  I  had  already  lost  my  day,  as  far 
as  my  work  and  wages  were  concerned,  although  it 
was  not  yet  noon,  for,  having  put  a  substitute  in 
my  place  in  the  crew,  the  day  was  his.  I  could  do 
nothing,  therefore,  but  loaf  away  the  weary  hours, 
chewing  my  bitter  cud  of  discontent.    But  hope,  like 


A  Lord  of  Lands.  77 

truth,  will  rise  again,  no  matter  how  cruelly  crushed, 
and  if  it  was  my  misfortune  to  expect  too  much,  it 
was  my  good  luck  to  be  incapable  of  brooding  long. 
I  chewed  and  chewed,  and  by  degrees  the  cud  was 
less  bitter.  I  resolved  to  make  a  sort  of  a  quiet 
holiday  of  it,  and  in  that  resolution  I  strolled  about 
the  streets,  and  watched  the  people,  and  stared  into 
the  windows,  and  rejoiced  in  the  little  comedies 
and  pitied  the  little  tragedies  which  are  forever  be- 
ing enacted  where  mankind  mass  themselves  to- 
gether. And  by  the  time  night  fell,  and  I  betook 
myself  home,  I  had  formed  new  plans  for  the  mor- 
row, and  gathered  a  fund  of  new  courage  to  carry 
them  out.  Or,  rather,  I  should  say,  I  had  taken  the 
old  plan  to  my  heart  afresh,  for  I  could  think  of  no 
new  expedient  to  try.  I  could  only  go  and  go  and 
keep  on  going,  until  by  sheer  persistency  I  should 
force  my  way.  If,  now  that  I  had  made  a  trial  of 
them,  the  barriers  had  proved  more  formidable  than 
I  expected,  I  screwed  up  my  courage  commensur- 
ately.  Next  morning,  I  set  my  substitute  to  work 
once  more,  and  once  more  betook  myself  to  the  gen- 
eral offices,  and  the  door  in  the  far  corner  of  the 
first  floor. 

They  made  short  shrift  of  me,  this  time.  I  got 
no  further  than  the  grand  outer  guard.  He  assured 
me  that  Mr.  Baring  was  engaged,  and  slid  me  out 
as  freight-handlers  might  slide  a  barrel  of  salt,  that 
is  to  say,  with  as  little  apparent  effort  on  his  part, 
and  as  little  resistance  on  mine.  He  had  something 
less  of  the  manner  of  a  stone  wall  than  the  grand 
eunuch,  being  a  younger  man,  with  better  blood  in 


yS  A  Lord  of  Lands. 

his  veins,  and  better  color  in  his  eyes,  but  he  had 
amply  enough  of  it  to  manage  me  very  nicely.  I 
came  off  with  a  low  estimate  of  myself,  lower,  per- 
haps, than  I  ever  seriously  entertained  before  or 
since.  What  was  become  of  all  the  diplomacy  which 
I  had  thought  myself  the  master  of,  and  of  the  firm 
patience,  which  should  be  the  property  of  any  man? 
I  was  perplexed  and  bewildered  and  pretty  nigh 
desperate,  and  if  the  course  I  proceeded  on  seems  to 
you  obviously  vain  and  foolish,  pray  consider  my 
condition  of  mind. 

I  began  wisely  enough,  for  the  following  day  I 
worked  in  the  yards,  in  the  old  way,  throwing 
switches  and  coupling  cars.  They  had  us  down  in 
the  milling  district  all  day  long,  where  the  work 
always  crowded  thick  and  fast,  more  than  fifty  men 
of  us  in  one  crew,  with  a  shifting  engine  as  big 
as  a  battleship  and  as  spry  as  a  cricket.  There  was 
no  chance  to  lay  new  plans  or  grieve  over  the  wreck 
of  the  old  ones,  that  day,  I  assure  you.  Indeed,  I 
all  but  forgot  the  great  affair,  I  was  that  occupied, 
until  it  came  time  to  knock  off,  and  then  I  was  too 
tired  to  think  to  any  purpose. 

Just  what  prompted  me  to  skip  that  day,  I  cannot 
now  tell  you.  If  I  knew  in  the  time  of  it,  I  have 
forgotten.  Possibly  I  thought  to  gain  something 
in  the  favor  of  the  seneschals  and  chamberlains  of 
the  royal  household  by  giving  them  a  respite,  or  it 
may  be  that,  not  rightly  knowing  what  to  do,  I 
yielded  to  the  long  established  habit  of  going  to 
work.  But  anyway,  I  gained  nothing.  When  I 
appeared  before  them  next  day,  very  bright  and  very 


A  Lord  of  Lands.  79 

early,  Mr.  Baring  was  still  engaged,  and  then  and 
there  I  vowed  a  mighty  vow  that  no  more  rest  would 
I  give  them.  I  would  call  every  day,  nay,  twice 
or  thrice  a  day,  as  often,  perhaps,  as  once  every 
hour,  all  with  the  idea,  if  you  will  believe  it,  of 
making  a  nuisance  of  myself,  decent  and  irreproach- 
able, to  be  sure,  but  none  the  less  a  nuisance.  I 
would  compel  them  to  let  me  have  my  way,  in  order 
to  get  rid  of  me. 

Can  you  conceive  of  anything  more  absurd?  I 
confess  that  I  cannot,  at  this  distance  of  time. 

The  grand  outer  guard  stood  up  under  the  in- 
fliction in  superb  style,  I  will  say  that  for  him.  He 
showed  the  staying-power  of  a  thoroughbred.  Be- 
yond a  doubt,  he  would  have  thanked  me  if  I  had 
given  him  the  pretext  for  having  me  thrown  out 
by  the  scruff  of  the  neck,  he  was  that  tried  in  his 
heart,  but  I  held  to  my  resolution  and  gave  him  none, 
and  he  was  not  to  be  outdone  in  good  manners.  You 
would  laugh  to  see  me,  I  know.  I  was  mostly 
unpractised  in  the  arts  of  urbanity,  but  in  the  in- 
tervals between  calls  I  had  nothing  to  do  but  school 
myself  to  a  sweetness  of  behavior,  to  the  end  that  he 
could  do  nothing  but  bow  and  smile  and  return  me 
the  old  answer,  without  being  downright  rude,  and 
this  was  not  in  him.  I  would  give  something  to 
know  what  he  thought  of  me. 

It  settled  down  into  a  test  of  endurance  betwixt  us, 
so  to  speak,  and  for  some  time  it  seemed  hopeless, 
from  my  point  of  view,  he  had  himself  under  such 
perfect  control,  and  was  that  able  to  conceal  his 
feelings.     But  at  length  I  imagined  I  caught,  in  his 


8o  A   Lord  of  Lands. 

high-bred  smile,  a  certain  faint  sickliness,  such  as 
might  betray  a  restiveness  grown  too  great  to  be 
longer  hidden.  You  will  not  readily  believe  how 
much  I  was  encouraged  by  this.  If,  such  was  my 
fatuous  thought,  I  was  getting  on  his  nerves,  as  this 
straw  would  go  to  show,  I  was  making  progress. 
Sooner  or  later,  something  should  come  of  it.  I 
was  becoming  intolerable,  and  by  that  token  I  must 
conquer. 

Well,  something  came,  whether  of  it  or  not  I  do 
not  undertake  to  say,  and  soon.  The  very  next 
day,  and  on  the  occasion  of  my  first  call  in  the 
morning,  instead  of  waiting  for  me  to  put  my  usual 
question,  if  Mr.  Baring  was  still  engaged  or  no, 
this  young  man  took  the  initiative  to  himself,  and 
giving  me  a  look  which  told  me  before  ever  he 
opened  his  lips  that  he  was  done  with  trifling,  said : 

"If  you  will  state  your  business,  it  will  be  sub- 
mitted to  Mr.  Baring  in  its  turn." 

Between  his  look  and  his  language,  I  was  con- 
siderably put  out  of  my  reckoning.  I  tried  to  frame 
a  honeyed  reply  which  should  say  that  my  business 
was  with  Mr.  Baring  personally,  and  none  else,  but 
I  found  there  lay  too  strong  upon  me  sundry  mis- 
givings as  to  what  the  grand  outer  guard  might 
have  it  in  mind  to  do  next.  I  felt  as  if  I  had  been 
outflanked  by  his  change  of  front,  and  put  on  the 
defensive  where,  a  little  before,  I  had  thought  my- 
self in  control  of  the  situation  or  something  like  it. 
I  could  not  shake  off  the  presentiment  that  he  was 
offering  me  his  ultimatum,  and  that  I  had  to  choose 
between  it  and  nothing.     The  whole  loaf  which  I 


A  Lord  of  Lands.  8i 

had  counted  on  was  slipping  from  me.  Nor  was 
the  half  loaf  of  the  proverb  within  my  reach,  only 
this  thinnest  of  thin  slices,  but  even  it  was  better 
than  no  bread.  I  felt  a  sickness  of  heart,  for  my 
business  was  indeed  with  Mr.  Baring  personally. 
Unless  I  could  speak  with  him  face  to  face,  I  knew 
only  too  well  my  business  was  fit  to  vanish  into  thin 
air,  and  become  no  business  at  all.  To  the  ordinary 
commercial  sense,  unsublimed  by  imagination,  what 
appeal  had  I  to  make?  Could  I  hope  to  meet  with 
any  other  than  the  ordinary  commercial  sense,  in  the 
cold-blooded  fellows  strung  along  through  these 
rooms?  I  thought  of  all  this,  standing  there  under 
the  eye  of  the  grand  outer  guard,  but  another  thing 
I  thought  of  more.  Could  I  afford,  in  justice  to 
the  interest  which  I  had  in  charge,  to  let  the 
opportunity  pass,  unpromising  though  it  was?  If 
I  let  it  pass,  might  I  not  regret  it  to  my  dying 
day? 

Well,  the  upshot  was  that  I  submitted  the  busi- 
rtess,  as  persuasively  as  I  could,  with  the  chill  at 
my  heart  all  the  time.  The  boy,  for  he  was  hardly 
more  than  that,  listened  in  a  perfectly  respectful 
manner.  Whatever  there  may  have  been  in  his 
mind,  there  was  no  trace  of  a  sneer  on  his  face. 
He  could  not  have  borne  himself  with  more 
deference.  Twice  he  asked  a  question,  which 
showed  that  he  was  attending  to  what  I  was  saying, 
and  that  he  really  wished  to  get  the  matter  quite 
right  in  his  understanding.  But  so  far  from  having 
sympathy  with  me  and  my  purpose,  by  which  I  mean 
not  the  sympathy  which  verges  on  pity,  but  rather  as 
6 


82  A  Lord  of  Lands. 

it  looks  toward  enthusiasm,  he  was  as  devoid  of 
anything  of  the  sort  as  the  chair  in  which  he  sat. 
All  the  while  I  had  to  struggle  with  the  feeling  that 
if  he  ever  laid  the  matter  before  his  chief,  he  would 
do  so  perfunctorily,  faithful  to  the  letter,  perhaps, 
but  with  no  flash  of  the  spirit  to  carry  conviction. 

When  I  had  finished  my  discourse,  and  I  was  not 
long,  because  my  tongue,  ordinarily  so  free,  seemed 
all  but  tied,  he  said : 

"  You  need  not  put  yourself  to  the  trouble  of 
calling  again.  Leave  your  name  and  address,  and 
I  will  communicate  with  you  by  mail,  at  once  Mr. 
Baring  comes  to  a  decision  in  the  mattter." 

He  had  me  beat,  with  that.  I  could  not  come 
back  without  seeming  to  doubt  his  word,  and  that 
were  folly.  If  I  came  back,  I  should  be  guilty  of 
disrespect,  and  lay  myself  liable  to  harsh  treatment. 
A  resentment  swept  over  me,  with  the  consciousness 
of  my  helplessness,  and  I  fiercely  thought  of  coming 
back,  to  haunt  them,  by  way  of  vengeance.  But 
my  resentment  did  not  blind  me  quite.  I  could  still 
see  my  family,  dependent  upon  me,  and  my  friends, 
whose  welfare  I  was  bound  to  bear  in  mind.  I 
might  cut  off  my  own  nose,  to  spite  my  face,  but 
cutting  off  theirs  was  another  thing.  The  family  is 
sure  the  bulwark  of  society,  in  more  ways  than  one, 
and  in  no  way  more  so  than  in  the  restraint  it  lays 
upon  the  rough  passions  of  men.  What  wicked 
deeds  of  violence  men  have  been  kept  from  by  hav- 
ing their  families  to  think  of,  only  the  good  Lord 
who  sees  their  minds  may  know,  but  many  and  great, 
I  am  convinced.     And  so  I  came  speedily  to  my 


A  Lord  of  Lands.  83 

senses.  The  boy  was  too  many  for  me,  and  that 
was  all  there  was  of  it.  He  was  rid  of  me,  and  I 
was  nowhere.  I  put  the  best  face  on  the  business 
that  I  could,  thanked  him,  and  bowed,  and  walked 
out  as  if  I  could  not  have  been  better  suited.  I  had 
the  pride  for  that. 

Here  was  hope  prostrate  again,  more  prostrate 
than  ever.  If  the  game  was  not  up,  as  far  as  Jones 
Baring  was  concerned,  I  knew  not  what  else  to 
think  of  it.  If  my  proposal  ever  got  to  him  at  all, 
it  would  not  touch  him.  It  was  like  trying  to  tap 
a  feed  wire  through  a  thickness  of  insulation. 
There  was  no  possibility,  none  whatever,  of  any 
feeling  being  communicated  through  those  clerks, 
and  without  some  communication  of  feeling,  what 
should  warm  the  Old  Man  to  any  sort  of  interest? 
He  would  begin  with  distrusting  it,  as  the  way  was 
with  men  who  are  all  the  time  being  importuned 
with  projects,  and  this  distrust  there  would  be  noth- 
ing to  overcome,  with  only  the  grand  guard  or  the 
grand  eunuch  mumbling  over  my  words  to  him. 
What  had  appeared  dismally  probable,  only,  soon 
got  to  appear  dismally  certain,  as  I  brooded  and 
brooded. 

Of  course,  I  said  to  myself,  bitterly,  they  would 
not  write  to  me.  What  I  had  taken  for  a  promise 
to  write,  in  my  thick-headed  innocence,  was  no 
promise  at  all,  when  I  came  to  dissect  it,  only  the 
merest  intimation.  It  was  a  part  of  their  smooth 
way  of  getting  rid  of  me,  of  overcoming  my  poor 
arts,  which  had  once  seemed  to  me  so  effectual. 
What  they  had  promised  was  no  more  than  this,  to 


84  A  Lord  of  Lands. 

write  me  when  Mr.  Baring  came  to  a  decision. 
They  had  engaged  to  lay  the  case  before  him,  in 
its  turn,  and  when  its  turn  should  come,  they  them- 
selves were  to  decide.  If  it  never  came,  as  easily 
it  might  never  come,  if  they  but  chose,  then  there 
would  be  no  decision  upon  it,  and  no  call  to  write 
to  me.  So  I  argued,  or  rather  raged,  and  told  my- 
self I  should  get  no  letter. 

For  the  rest  of  the  day,  I  walked  the  streets,  and 
fumed  and  fretted,  and  worried  the  hours  away, 
growing  sulkier  and  uglier  all  the  time.  Of  course 
I  had  only  myself  justly  to  blame,  but  you  know 
human  nature  too  well  to  imagine  I  thought  of  that. 
The  sun  went  down  upon  my  anger  at  last,  and  I 
retired  to  rest  in  a  most  unkind  and  unprofitable 
frame  of  mind.  But,  as  luck  would  have  it,  I  was 
too  tired  out,  with  one  thing  and  another,  to  lie 
awake  and  nurse  my  wrath.  Before  I  knew  it,  I 
was  asleep,  and  I  slept  soundly,  and  when  morning 
dawned,  I  felt  a  good  deal  better,  for  there  is  noth- 
ing quite  like  sleep  to  mend  matters.  And  now  I 
went  off  to  work,  as  of  old,  in  some  conscious- 
ness of  my  blessings,  which  were  after  all  by  no 
means  few,  nor  of  a  character  to  be  long  over- 
looked by  a  man  of  my  disposition.  I  had  told 
Ludovika  never  a  word  of  what  I  was  up  to  all 
this  while,  but  of  course  she  could  guess  that  it  had 
to  do  with  our  great  project.  And  she  knew,  too, 
none  better,  having  with  all  her  simplicity  the  full 
of  a  woman's  power  of  divining  the  minds  of  those 
she  loves,  that  I  had  met  with  a  crushing  defeat  of 
some  sort.     Nevertheless,  or  perhaps  I  should  say 


A   Lord  of  Lands.  85 

because  of  this,  since  it  is  in  the  nature  of  a  good 
wife  to  be  cheerfulest  when  her  husband  stands 
most  in  need  of  cheer,  she  wore  her  best  air  of 
comfortable  gladness,  not  with  the  remotest  sugges- 
tion of  rejoicing  in  my  discomfiture,  but  rather 
with  the  manner  of  knowing  the  worst,  and  feeling 
for  it,  but  withal  rising  above  it.  I  can  never  forget 
how  she  flew  about  her  household  duties  in  the 
lightsomest  way,  that  morning,  and  how  especially 
she  made  a  most  prodigious  ado  over  packing  my 
dinner  in  my  tin  bucket,  as  if  nothing  in  the  world 
could  be  so  important  as  that,  and  how,  at  the  last, 
as  I  was  going,  she  brought  the  baby  out  from  the 
crib  for  me  to  kiss,  and  hereupon  I  was  that  affected 
by  her  gentle  contentment  and  rare  bravery,  as 
contrasted  with  my  own  sourness,  I  ended  with  kiss- 
ing her,  a  good,  hearty  smack,  somewhat  to  her 
surprise,  I  doubt  not,  since  it  was  not  customary 
any  more.  All  day  I  worked,  with  this  sweet  influ- 
ence over  me,  keeping  these  fine  things  in  mind  as 
much  as  possible,  trying  to  persuade  myself  that  they 
were  the  things  which  make  life  worth  living,  after 
all,  and  nothing  else  matters  much,  if  only  they  be 
had,  and  doing  my  utmost  to  forget  the  unpleasant 
part,  as  one  tries  to  forget  an  evil  dream. 

I  was  wrong  about  the  letter,  as  it  turned  out. 
When  I  came  home,  that  night,  long  after  dark,  for 
it  was  the  season  of  the  shortest  days,  there  lay  an 
envelope  on  my  plate  at  the  table.  It  was  an 
uncommon  thing  for  a  letter  to  be  delivered  at  our 
house,  and  the  air  was  fairly  electrical  with  curiosity 
deeply  moved,  especially  on  the  part  of  the  children. 


86  A  Lord  of  Lands. 

I  saw  the  envelope  the  instant  I  stepped  over  the 
threshold,  and  I  sprang  forward  and  snatched  it  up 
with  an  eagerness  and  an  undignified  haste  which 
I  was  presently  sorry  for.  In  the  corner  of  it,  that 
is,  in  the  upper,  left-hand  corner,  the  name  of  the 
company  was  printed,  and  under  this  the  portentous 
words,  Office  of  the  President.  This  told  me,  at 
a  glance,  as  it  had  doubtless  told  the  others,  and 
inflamed  their  curiosity  to  an  all  but  ungovernable 
pitch,  where  the  letter  was  from.  I  was  completely 
floored,  as  you  may  say,  the  outcome  was  that 
different  from  what  I  had  looked  for,  and,  strive  as 
I  would  to  bear  in  mind  the  vanity  of  human  hopes, 
and  the  all  too  common  fate  of  human  expectations, 
I  was  tremendously  exalted.  My  head  fairly  swam, 
between  my  excitement  and  my  strenuous  effort  to 
control  it.  I  tore  open  the  envelope  with  hands 
which  trembled  so  that  I  was  next  to  unable,  and 
read  something  like  this  (I  cannot  pretend  to  give 
the  exact  words,  since  I  stuffed  the  letter  into  the 
fire  at  once  I  caught  the  gist  of  it)  in  machine 
writing : 

"  Mr.  Baring  regrets  that  his  engagements  do  not  permit  him  to 
take  up  Mr.  Fitzgerald's  proposal,  at  this  time." 


CHAPTER  V. 

The  wickedest  sentiments  I  have  ever  been  guilty 
of  cherishing  were  those,  I  believe,  which  I  cherished 
that  night.  For  the  moment,  I  seemed  to  myself 
the  illest-treated  man  living,  and  in  my  mind  I 
made  all  humanity  my  foe,  excepting,  of  course, 
my  family,  who  were  a  part  of  me.  The  letter, 
maddening  and  crushing  and  humiliating  as  it  was, 
was  not  the  only  sling  and  arrow  of  outrageous  for- 
tune which  I  had  to  endure.  When  I  had  thrust  it 
into  the  fire,  and  it  had  contributed  its  bit  of  heat  to 
warm  my  tea,  though  I  was  far  enough  from  giving 
it  credit  for  even  that  much  geniality,  I  drew  out  the 
little  packet  I  had  got  from  the  paymaster  that  day, 
and  handed  it  over  to  Ludovika,  without  opening  it 
myself,  in  accordance  with  the  custom  I  had  followed 
ever  since  we  were  married.  Then  I  went  to  wash 
myself  at  the  sink,  but  I  observed  her  out  of  the  tail 
of  my  eye,  and  I  saw  her  open  the  packet  and  take 
out  three  bills.  Three  bills  were  the  usual  number, 
but  whereas  they  were  commonly  two  twenties  and 
a  ten,  they  were  two  tens  and  a  five,  to-night.  That 
was  the  net  result  of  all  my  enterprise,  my  meager 
pay  cut  in  two.  She  said  never  a  word  about  it,  nor 
did  I,  and  I  wonder  more  at  myself  than  at  her, 
though  she  had  the  more  reason  to  complain.     But 


88  A   Lord  of  Lands. 

anyway,  it  was  better  so.  It  was  a  critical  moment 
in  our  lives,  and  words  might  have  led  to  the  worst. 
It  is  all  too  easy  to  imagine  what  might  well  have 
happened,  with  a  fretful  comment  from  her  to  begin 
with,  a  little  quarrel  swelling  into  a  big  quarrel, 
reproaches  bringing  forth  more  reproaches,  and 
possibly  blows,  though  I  shudder  to  think  myself 
capable  of  that,  and  at  last  drink  and  ruin  complete. 
When  an  Irishman  goes  to  the  devil,  he  is  pretty  apt 
to  make  the  through  trip  at  once,  without  any  stops. 
I  slept  not  one  wink  all  night.  I  was  tired 
enough,  but  my  mind  was  in  such  a  tumult  of 
mialignity  as  no  bodily  weariness  could  overcome. 
At  times,  I  think,  I  was  nearly  mad,  and  I  almost 
hope  I  was,  mad  enough,  at  least,  to  release  me  from 
responsibility  for  the  bad  thoughts  I  entertained. 
Only  if  you  are  at  once  sensitive  and  sanguine,  and 
both  in  high  degree,  can  you  know  how  I  suffered. 
And  the  worst  of  it  was  that  I  could  conceive  of 
no  balm  for  my  suffering  excepting  only  vengeance. 
I  reveled  in  hate,  if  the  uttermost  of  bitterness  has 
anything  of  revelry  in  it,  and  while  I  devised  hateful 
deeds  and  figured  myself  doing  them,  I  could  cry 
aloud  in  a  species  of  hideous  joy.  Need  I  say  that 
I  am  heartily  ashamed,  a  thousand  times  heartily 
ashamed,  of  the  desperate  intentions  of  that  night? 
And  yet  I  am  not  surprised  that  I  had  them.  I  tell 
you  disappointment  is  a  terrible  scourge,  where  a 
man  has  any  spirit.  Let  his  desires  and  his  expecta- 
tions be  however  unreasonable,  if  they  are  denied, 
he  smarts  as  under  the  lick  of  a  lash,  and  the  wonder 
to   me   is  that  more  mischief   is   not  done   in  the 


A   Lord  of  Lands.  89 

gratification  of  his  blind,  foolish  resentment.  Few 
of  us  are  philosophers,  and  fewer  are  saints. 
Remembering  that  night,  I  can  understand  how  men 
g^t  to  be  red  anarchists. 

I  made  up  my  mind  to  nothing,  however,  for  my 
mind  was  in  no  condition  for  making  up.  It  was 
chaos,  black  as  night,  with  now  and  then  the  baleful 
lightning  of  a  bad  intent  flashing  out  over  it,  only  to 
fade  away  almost  instantly,  leaving  no  trace. 
When  morning  came,  I  was  conscious  of  no  purpose, 
yet  a  purpose  I  had,  or  else  I  should  have  drifted 
along  under  the  impulse  of  old  habit.  I  did  not  go 
to  work,  and  I  knew  not  in  the  least  why.  I  dressed 
myself  in  my  good  clothes  ( we  called  them  good,  by 
courtesy,  for  they  were  not  deserving  of  the  name, 
what  with  being  frayed  and  faded,  and  as  for  a 
starched  shirt,  I  had  long  since  given  up  wearing 
anything  of  that  sort)  and  went  off  toward  the  city, 
and  still  I  knew  not  why.  I  must  have  gone  pretty 
straight  to  the  general  offices,  because  I  soon  fetched 
up  at  the  door  thereof,  and  with  that  I  was  startled 
a  little  out  of  my  dream  (I  know  not  what  else  to  call 
it)  and  I  asked  myself  what  I  had  come  for,  and  I 
knew  not. 

I  was  not  raging  any  more.  Possibly  the 
imaginary  vengeance  of  the  night  had  glutted  me. 
I  cannot  undertake  to  say,  further  than  that  I  was 
become  most  amazingly  stupid,  as  if  my  mental 
equipment  was  quite  run  down.  As  in  a  trance  I 
faced  about  and  left  the  general  offices,  and  walked 
the  streets,  up  and  down,  hither  and  yon,  for  hours, 
miles  out  and  miles  back,  now  loitering  and  now  all 


90  A  Lord  of  Lands. 

but  breaking  into  a  run,  as  my  mood  shifted,  try- 
ing to  devise,  and  making  out  nothing.  I  seemed 
to  be  aware,  through  it  all,  that  I  had  nothing  to 
gain  by  presenting  myself  at  the  president's  door. 
And  yet  I  found  myself  back  under  the  great  arch 
of  the  main  entrance  to  the  general  offices,  again, 
and  yet  again,  half  a  dozen  times,  it  might  be,  in 
the  course  of  the  forenoon.  But  always,  there, 
something  held  me  back,  pride,  or  prudence,  work- 
ing unconsciously,  and  I  did  not  go  in. 

It  was  a  day  never  to  be  forgotten,  not  only  by 
reason  of  its  significance  in  my  life  (I  count  it  at 
once  the  darkest  and  the  brightest  of  all  my  days, 
darkest  in  its  beginning  and  brightest  in  its  ending) 
but  as  well  by  reason  of  its  own  proper  character, 
the  sweetness  and  the  unspeakable  beauty  of  it. 
The  poet  says  it  is  June,  if  ever,  that  there  come 
perfect  days.  I  cannot  agree  with  him.  Lovely 
days  we  get  in  all  seasons,  but  the  loveliest  of  all,  to 
my  notion,  is  in  winter.  It  is  when  the  air,  by 
some  mysterious  dispensation,  holds  at  the  same 
time  the  softness  of  summer  and  the  frosty  tang  of 
the  winter.  The  sun  shines,  then,  as  he  never 
shines  in  any  other  season,  with  a  subdued  bright- 
ness which  diffuses  a  warmth  of  spirit,  and  the  sky 
has  a  blue  which  is  tenderness  itself,  while  under 
your  feet  is  spread  a  rich  carpet  of  soft  snow,  a 
benediction  in  itself.  No  man  loves  more  ardently 
than  I  the  verdure  of  the  growing  months,  and  the 
birds  and  the  blossoms,  but  I  think  a  mild,  bright 
day  in  December  is  the  best  of  all,  as  it  is  the  rarest. 
And  such  a  day  was  this,  superlatively  such. 


A  Lord  of  Lands.  91 

After  tramping  over  half  the  town,  I  suppose,  in 
the  manner  I  have  described,  I  came  up  to  the  en- 
trance of  the  general  offices,  once  more,  and  the 
great  bell  in  the  City  Hall  a  block  away  was  slowly 
booming  out  the  hour  of  12.    I  counted  the  strokes, 
and  felt  some  surprise,  yet  I  did  not  know  whether 
I  was  surprised  because  it  was  no  earlier,  or  because 
it  was  no  later.    I  distinctly  recall  wondering  about 
that  point,  in  a  dazed,  uncertain  way,  and  then,  all 
of  a  mighty  sudden,  the  time  and  the  bell  and  pretty 
much  everything  else  dropped  away  from  me.     I 
descried  the  figure  of  a  man  standing  in  the  doorway 
before  me,  and  the  sight  of  him  made  my  heart 
stop  beating.     For  he  was  none  other  than  Jones 
Baring  himself,  alone,  unoccupied,  seemingly,  paus- 
ing there,  no  doubt,  for  a  moment  of  refreshing 
idleness,  while  he  took  in  the  beauties  of  the  day, 
the  soft  air,  the  bright  sky,  and  the  quiet  and  peace 
brooding  over  all. 

If  I  have  given  you  any  notion  of  the  state  of 
mind  I  had  fallen  into,  you  will  readily  believe  that 
this  conjuncture  was  almost  too  much  for  me.  I 
was  that  wound  up  with  defeat,  and  the  thought  of 
it,  that  this  reverse  shock,  as  I  may  call  it,  threw  me 
mto  a  great  flutter,  and  I  had  something  to  do  to 
keep  from  bursting  out  like  a  hysterical  woman, 
laughing  and  crying  all  at  once.  And  although  I 
made  out  not  to  sink  so  far  below  the  level  of  man- 
hood, it  is  a  fact  that  my  knees  smote  together  and 
all  but  gave  way  under  me,  and  there  came  a  dryness 
back  in  my  mouth  which  left  me  as  dumb  as  a 
stock.     Just  the  other  day  Elizabeth  was  reading  to 


92  A  Lord  of  Lands. 

me  a  story  out  of  her  Latin  book,  about  a  certain 

Aeneas,  who  met  with  marvelous  experiences,  and 
she  came  upon  a  passage  which  greatly  caught  my 
fancy,  recounting  how,  on  the  occasion  of  encounter- 
ing the  ghost  of  his  father,  the  fellow's  **  hair  stood 
up  and  his  voice  stuck  in  his  throat/'  It  hit  off 
most  aptly  my  own  fix  that  lovely  day  long  ago  when 
I  came  suddenly  upon  Jones  Baring  put  in  my  way  as 
by  the  hand  of  Providence,  and  I  was  that  struck  I 
forthwith  conceived  a  warmer  feeling  for  the  Latin, 
as  affording  the  turn  of  such  a  neat  phrase,  although 
I  am  none  the  less  of  the  opinion  that  he  who  has 
one  language  in  which  he  can  think  clear  thoughts 
and  speak  them  clearly  out,  is  well  furnished,  with- 
out taking  trouble  to  learn  another. 

But  a  man  will  not  long  remain  in  such  a  plight. 
He  will  get  worse  or  better,  and  that  soon.  I  got 
better,  praise  the  Lord.  In  the  smallest  fraction  of 
a  second  I  had  brought  myself  to  a  realization  of 
my  glorious  good  fortune,  and  of  the  need  I  was 
under,  if  I  was  to  make  the  best  of  it,  to  be  all  that 
it  was  in  me  to  be.  It  was  the  fateful  moment. 
To  quote  the  greatest  of  all  great  poets  (I  have 
authority  for  this)  although  his  sentiment  applies  to 
a  case  far  worse,  I  trust,  than  mine  may  ever  be, 
I  had  now  to  "  awake,  arise,  or  be  forever  fallen." 
With  a  great  effort,  I  awoke,  and  arose. 

I  had  long  since  made  up  my  mind  just  how  I 
should  address  the  Old  Man,  if  ever  I  got  speech 
with  him,  not  merely  the  substance  of  it,  but  the 
words  as  well,  down  to  the  minutest  detail,  and 
I  had  it  conned  over  until  it  was  ready  to  flow  off 


A  Lord  of  Lands  93 

my  tongue  without  much  need  of  my  thinking  what 
I  was  saying.  For  one  single,  black  instant  I  lost 
it,  and  could  no  more  have  spoken  it  than  I  could 
have  repeated  the  Thirty-Nine  Articles,  or  the 
Longer  Westminster  Confession,  and  then  it  came 
back  to  me,  and  I  went  straight  up  to  him  (I  be- 
lieve I  had  not  halted  at  all,  for  all  the  arresting 
thoughts  which  had  passed  through  my  brain)  with 
a  boldness  and  a  steadiness  nothing  short  of  astound- 
ing, but  not  to  be  set  down  to  my  credit,  for  if  ever 
a  man  was  sustained  from  on  high,  I  was  that  man, 
in  that  moment, — went  straight  up  to  him,  never 
stopping  to  pass  the  time  of  day,  or  to  offer  the 
compliments  of  the  season,  or  to  waste  the  thinnest 
shred  of  time  on  anything  but  the  subject  nearest 
my  heart,  and  asked  him  could  I  speak  fifty-two 
words  to  him.  "  Mr.  Baring,''  said  I,  ''  may  I  speak 
fifty-two  words  to  you? " 

He  turned  the  light  of  his  countenance,  in  a  way 
of  speaking,  full  upon  me,  and  he  looked  a  different 
man,  now  that  I  stood  so  near  him,  and  saw  him 
so  fairly,  or  perhaps  it  was  the  circumstance  of  his 
being  brought  out  of  a  reverie  that  made  the  differ- 
ence. Anyway,  it  was  a  face  to  make  one  feel  a 
sense  of  awe,  and  I  assure  you  I  felt  it,  to  the  full, 
though  I  am  called  very  democratic,  and  committed 
to  the  doctrine  that  one  man  is  as  good  as  another. 
What  impressed  me  most  was  the  depth  of  him.  I 
seemed  to  myself  to  have  called  down  into  a  gulf 
which  was  miles  deep,  with  the  mind  I  was  trying  to 
reach  at  the  very  bottom,  a  lonely,  hermit  mind, 
dwelling  apart  by  reason  of  the  greatness  of  it,  such 


94  A  Lord  of  Lands. 

that  it  found  no  fit  companion  short  of  infinity. 
There  was  something  tremendously  disconcerting 
about  it,  and  my  courage,  at  a  fierce  pitch  a  moment 
ago,  began  to  ooze  away  in  spite  of  me.  A  wild  and 
desperate  dread  of  forgetting  what  I  was  to  say  next, 
of  proving  unable  to  speak  the  fifty-two  words, 
though  I  should  get  permission,  came  over  me,  and 
with  it  a  strong  impulse  to  take  to  my  heels  and  run 
away.  It  was  borne  in  on  me  that  I  should  never  get 
my  breath  rightly  until  I  had  fled  that  awesome  pres- 
ence. But  I  stood  my  ground,  praise  the  Lord  once 
more.  There's  a  way  of  saying,  when  a  man  wins, 
that  he  carries  the  day,  but  now  it  was  the  day  which 
carried  me,  I  believe,  with  the  rare  beauty  of  it,  and 
its  softening  influence.  The  blessed  air  bore  my 
weak  and  faltering  voice  down  into  those  depths,  and 
in  a  moment  I  saw  the  answering  light  in  the  shaggy 
eyes,  while  the  rugged  face  relaxed  into  a  faint  smile, 
and  then  the  great  man  spoke. 

"  Sir,"  said  he,  in  a  pleasant  voice,  *'  you  may.'* 

His  graciousness  put  me  right  on  my  feet,  as 
it  were,  and  thrilled  me  with  an  alertness  to  fan  up 
the  spark  of  interest  he  showed. 

"  Myself  and  fifteen  other  men,"  said  I,  "  all  of 
us  with  great  and  growing  families,  finding  our- 
selves barely  able  to  keep  afloat  by  dint  of  the  most 
unremitting  effort,  and  having  it  to  think  of  that  our 
increasing  burdens  must  sink  us  sooner  or  later, 
wish  to  go  out  and  attach  ourselves  to  the  soil. 
Would  you  care  to  have  me  lay  our  plan  before 
you?" 

It  was  a  set  speech,  of  course.     If  it  sounded,  to 


A   Lord  of  Lands.  95 

the  practised  ear  of  Jones  Baring,  like  a  variation 
of  the  old  song  of  beggary,  I  cannot  wonder.  At 
all  events,  his  face  took  on  a  certain  hardness,  as  I 
spoke,  or,  to  call  it  more  fitly,  a  weariness. 

'*  What  interest  have  I  in  your  plan  ?  "  he  said, 
rather  coldly. 

''  As  to  that,  sir,"  said  I,  '*  may  I  ask  you  to  read 
this,"  and  I  handed  him  my  newspaper  clipping. 

He  took  it,  not  at  all  eagerly,  and  glanced 
through  it,  and  something,  possibly  the  name  of  the 
Canadian  Pacific,  standing  out  with  capitals,  caught 
him,  and  he  went  back  and  read  it  over  a  second 
time,  less  hastily,  and  a  third  time,  very  carefully. 
Then  he  handed  it  back  to  me,  without  a  word,  but 
he  looked  at  me  curiously. 

"  It  seems  the  railways  are  anxious  to  fill  up  their 
lands  with  respectable  settlers,"  said  I. 

I  doubt  if  he  heard  this.  He  was  eyeing  me 
narrowly,  and  I  began  to  feel  like  a  bit  of  punk 
under  a  sunglass,  on  the  point  of  flaring  up  and 
vanishing  in  a  puff  of  unavailing  flame  and  smoke. 
It  was  very  embarrassing,  I  assure  you. 

"  What  is  your  name?  "  he  said,  at  length, 

"  Matthew  Fitzgerald,"  said  I. 

**  I  have  seen  you  before,"  said  he. 

"  I  have  the  honor,"  said  I,  "  to  be  employed  in 
your  service,  as  a  switchman." 

To  be  sure  it  was  an  honor,  but  I  saw  at  once, 
by  the  look  of  him,  that  he  was  not  pleased  with 
my  bald  manner  of  acknowledgement.  There  was 
a  smack  of  servility  about  it,  and  it  offended  him, 
but  he  went  on  with  me. 


96  A   Lord  of  Lands. 

"An  Irishman?"  said  he. 

"  The  north  of  Ireland,"  said  I,  with  a  touch  of 
the  fooHsh  hereditary  pride.  "  I  was  born  in  the 
country  Antrim,  and  my  parents  before  me." 

Of  course  he  had  not  asked  me  what  county,  or 
anything  about  my  parents,  but  simply  if  I  was  an 
Irishman,  and  here  I  was,  in  the  very  face  of  the 
warning  I  had  received  but  a  moment  before, 
answering  him  with  all  this  flow  of  loquacity.  I 
could  see  that  the  shade  in  his  face  was  deepening, 
and  I  could  have  kicked  myself  with  a  good  heart. 

"  The  trouble  with  sending  city  people  out  to 
become  farmers,"  he  said,  turning  partly  away,  and 
looking  off  down  the  street,  and  speaking  in  a 
manner  which  was  not  cordial,  "  is  that  they  get 
homesick  and  give  up,  drift  back,  if  they  can,  and 
if  they  can't,  sink  into  shiftlessness.  We  have  got 
to  fill  our  lands  with  peasants  from  Europe,  who 
have  known  real  poverty,  and  are  willing  to  endure 
anything  for  the  sake  of  having  enough  to  eat. 
Your  city  people  haven't  the  stamina  to  live  in  the 
wilderness.  They  can't  exist  except  in  a  crowd. 
They  will  choose  to  deprive  themselves  of  everything 
rather  than  company.  That  seems  to  be  human 
nature.    It  is  useless  to  fight  against  human  nature." 

I  confess  that  I  had  not  thought  of  any  superiority 
those  British  immigrants  might  have  over  us, 
through  being  more  highly  seasoned  veterans  in  the 
war  against  poverty,  and  by  that  fitter  to  cope  with 
the  hardships  of  pioneering,  and  the  effect  of  being 
admonished  of  it,  now,  together  with  the  growing 
feeling  that  I  was  not  making  the  best  impression 


A  Lord  of  Lands.  97 

personally,  was  not  uplifting.  I  wondered  if  I 
might  not  venture  to  remind  him  that  his  point  of 
view  perhaps  shut  him  off  from  seeing  the  whole 
field,  and  then  I  wondered  if  I  dared  open  my  lips, 
and  the  upshot  was  that  I  made  no  reply,  and  in  a 
moment,  when  he  had  finished  speaking,  it  was  my 
great  satisfaction  to  have  him  turn  back  to  me,  with 
a  kindly  look,  as  if  his  bitterness,  for  such  it  seemed 
to  be,  had  spent  itself  in  his  speech,  and  the  warmer 
sentiments  were  coming  up  to  the  surface. 

"  I  should  take  you  for  an  honest  man,"  he  said. 

"  I  hope  I  am  that,"  I  repHed,  "  and  I  hope,  as 
I  believe,  that  my  friends  are  equally  honest.  What 
is  more,  if  I  may  say  so,  we  ask  no  favor.  As  we 
are  honest  men,  we  wish  to  pay  for  all  we  get.  We 
have  no  desire  to  come  by  anything  unless  by  value 
rendered." 

All  in  all,  it  was  a  curious  conversation,  on  my 
part,  at  least,  what  with  the  violent  fluctuations  I 
was  undergoing,  It  seemed  as  if  I  was  raised  up 
only  in  order  to  be  brought  down  again,  for  now 
he  understood  me  to  be  boasting  and  turned  cold 
once  more. 

**  That's  all  very  easy  to  say,"  he  said. 

I  was  like  a  man  who  climbs  a  steep  declivity  with 
great  labor,  to  find  himself  slipping  back,  bruised 
and  worn,  as  often  as  he  gains  any  height.  I  was 
seized  with  a  desperate  hardihood.  It  was  borne  in 
on  me  that  the  Old  Man  was  minded  to  go  his 
way  and  trouble  himself  no  further  with  my  busi- 
ness, and  with  that  I  resolved  that  he  should  not,  if 
7 


98  A  Lord  of  Lands. 

there  was  any  means,  barring  violence,  of  holding 
him  until  he  had  heard  me  out. 

"  Permit  me  to  say,  sir,"  said  I,  forgetting  my- 
self in  my  new  determination,  and  along  with  my- 
self the  formal  discourse  which  I  had  framed,  and 
the  vain  affectations,  ''  that  we  have  not  overlooked 
the  difficulty  you  mention,  namely,  the  liking  of 
city  people  for  company,  by  reason  of  which  they 
endure  farm  life  but  hardly.  Our  plan  takes  care 
of  that  difficulty." 

"  You  claim  great  merit  for  your  plan,"  he  said. 
"  Do  you  profess  to  be  able  to  make  human  nature 
over?" 

There  was  palpable  irony  in  this,  and  I  was  very 
conscious  of  a  flash  of  resentment.  Will  you  think 
of  me  talking  to  the  great  Jones  Baring  face  to  face 
and  getting  a  bit  angry  with  him?  But,  as  I  say, 
I  had  forgotten  myself.  Besides,  he  tapped  me  right 
where  I  was  fullest.  Upon  the  instant,  I  was  gush- 
ing aboundingly. 

**  Not  at  all,  sir,"  said  I.  "  It  is  not  necessary 
to  make  human  nature  over,  if  I  understand  it.  We 
propose  to  take  human  nature  as  it  is.  We  pro- 
pose to  be  farmers  and  yet  have  plenty  of  good 
company.  I  would  not  wish  to  deprive  myself  of 
the  delights  of  company,  and,  more  than  myself, 
I  would  not  deprive  my  family.  The  women,  sir, 
have  to  have  company  much  as  the  flowers  have  to 
have  sunlight.  They  can  live  without  it,  but  not 
thriftily.  We  must  have  company,  and  the  especial 
merit  we  claim  for  our  plan  is  that  it  looks  first  of 
all  to  the  purpose  of  providing  company." 


A  Lord  of  Lands.  gg 

This  burst  of  eloquence  affected  the  Old  Man,  I 
should  judge,  with  a  certain  astonishment,  for  he 
listened  as  if  he  might  be  puzzling  what  the  meaning 
of  it  should  be,  whether  he  had  a  person  of  sound 
faculties  to  deal  with,  or  a  lunatic  under  a  delusion. 
But  whatever  his  thought  was,  it  came  out  in  my 
favor  at  last,  as  I  could  see  by  his  face,  which  be- 
trayed more  and  more  interest  as  I  went  on.  You 
are  to  understand  that  I  had  not  paused,  in  the 
least,  but  rattled  away,  determined  to  have  out  all 
that  was  in  me,  whether  or  no,  until  I  had  told  him, 
with  all  too  little  regard  for  the  brevity  which  is  the 
soul  of  wit,  how  it  was  our  intention  to  build  us  a 
little  village  in  the  midst  of  our  land,  where  we 
should  live  together,  sixteen  families  of  us,  or  eighty 
souls,  now,  with  more  in  prospect,  since  we  were  all 
youngish  yet. 

When  I  was  done,  at  length,  there  was  a  little 
silence,  while  I  stood,  somewhat  out  of  breath,  and 
a  good  deal  abashed  by  my  own  boldness,  and  anx- 
ious as  to  what  was  coming  of  it,  and  waited  for  him 
to  speak. 

"  Did  you  evolve  that  idea  out  of  your  inner 
consciousness?  "  said  he,  and  his  tone  was  decidedly 
different  from  any  he  had  yet  employed  with  me, 
and  as  encouraging  as  it  was  different. 

Precisely  what  he  meant  by  this,  I  did  not  know  at 
the  time,  but  I  was  well  satisfied  that  he  did  not  refer 
to  the  Chinese,  and  so  I  answered  him  in  the 
negative. 

"I  have  read,"  said  I,   "that  the   farmers   of 


100  A  Lord  of  Lands. 

China  live  together  in  villages,  some  such  way,  and 
are  none  the  worse  farmers  for  it." 

"  Can  any  good  come  out  of  Nazareth?  "  said  the 
Old  Man,  and  laughed  outright,  and  I  assure  you  a 
glint  of  merriment  improved  his  looks  immensely. 
Right  away  I  began  to  feel  as  if  I  had  known  him 
all  my  life.  But  my  embarrassments  were  not  over 
with,  for  now  there  took  place  an  incident  which  I 
deem  one  of  the  strangest,  if  not  the  very  strangest, 
in  all  my  experience,  an  incident  which  I  recount  to 
my  children  as  the  ancient  mariner  recounts  to 
his  the  marvels  which  have  befallen  him  in  his  out- 
landish travels,  and  shall  soon,  if  I  am  spared, 
recount  to  my  grandchildren,  who  are  fast  coming  to 
the  age  when  family  history  will  appeal  to  them, 
and  it  may  be  to  my  great-grandchildren,  likewise, 
for  I  need  live  only  a  matter  of  a  dozen  or  fifteen 
years  longer  in  order  to  have  these,  Deo  volente,  in 
the  female  line,  if  not  in  the  male.  When  the  Old 
Man  had  had  his  laugh,  and  before  I  could  think 
of  any  suitable  comment  to  go  on  with,  being  that 
fluttered  by  his  kindness,  he  suddenly  turned  upon 
me  with  this  most  astounding  and  disconcerting 
question : 

'*  By  the  way,  have  you  lunched,  Mr.  Fitz- 
gerald?" 

Consider  it.  By  the  way,  have  you  lunched,  Mr. 
Fitzgerald?  It  was  near  overmastering  me,  but  I 
managed  to  keep  my  slender  wits  sufficiently  about 
me  to  answer  that  I  had  not,  which  was  quite  the 
truth,  in  a  much  larger  sense  than  he  was  likely  to 
understand.     To  the  best  of  my  knowledge,  I  had 


A  Lord  of  Lands.  loi 

never  lunched  in  all  my  life,  although  I  had  eaten  my 
full  share,  no  doubt,  since  my  meals  had  always 
passed  under  the  humbler  names  of  breakfast,  dinner 
and  supper.  I  dimly  foreboded  what  was  at  hand, 
and  had  thus  a  little  time  to  get  ready  for  it,  to 
brace  myself,  as  it  were,  and  yet  I  was  all  but  for 
sinking  down  when  he  asked  me  would  I  be  pleased 
to  lunch  with  him. 

Once  more  my  hair  stood  on  end  and  my  voice 
stuck  in  my  throat.  Down  in  the  uttermost  recesses 
of  my  heart,  the  spirit  of  adventure,  which  Ireland 
breathes  copiously  into  every  son  of  hers,  to  her  own 
glory,  perhaps,  but  to  his  everlasting  discomfort, 
was  pushing  me  on  to  seize  upon  the  opportunity, 
and  make  the  most  of  it,  but  my  fears  took  a 
contrary  stand,  and  to  tell  the  truth,  I  was  frightened 
about  out  of  my  senses.  Could  I  have  come  up  to 
the  business  gradually,  I  daresay  I  might  have 
carried  it  off  with  some  assurance  and  the  outward 
show,  at  least,  of  ease,  but  with  the  emergency 
springing  at  me  like  Jack  out  of  the  box,  I  felt 
vastly  more  like  running  than  staying.  I  cast  about 
desperately  for  a  pretext,  and  thought  myself  fortu- 
nate in  having  it  to  say  that  I  was  not  fitly  dressed. 
But  the  Old  Man  would  not  hear  me. 

"Nonsense,  sir!"  said  he,  and  with  that  what 
does  he  do  but  take  me  by  the  arm,  and  the  next  I 
knew  I  was  going  along  with  him,  under  a  strong 
sense  of  unreality.  I  seriously  asked  myself  if  I 
was  dreaming.  I  have  since  learned  that  where  one 
wonders  if  he  is  dreaming,  he  may  rest  assured  he 
is  not,  for  the  reason  that  to  the  mind  in  sleep  all  its 


I02  A  Lord  of  Lands. 

fantasies  seem  real,  but  of  this  I  had  no  inkling  at 
that  time,  and  I  was  not  a  little  disturbed  by  the 
doubt,  and  quite  prepared  to  find  myself  starting 
out  of  my  sleep  and  to  hear  Ludovika  asking  me 
what  had  I  eaten  that  should  make  me  so  restless. 
The  Old  Man  chatted  as  we  went,  in  a  way  which 
impressed  me  as  being  very  cultivated  and  agreeable, 
about  the  beautiful  day,  and  the  unusually  mild 
season,  and  the  great  prevalence  of  colds,  which  he 
attributed  to  people  allowing  themselves  to  be 
beguiled  into  exposures  by  the  warm  weather,  and 
in  due  time  brought  me  to  his  club,  where,  if  report 
was  to  be  credited,  only  the  first  people  entered, 
and  where  no  switchman,  I  am  convinced,  not  even 
Michael  O' Fallon,  the  walking  delegate,  had  ever 
entered  before,  anyway  by  the  front  door,  as  I 
entered  that  day,  with  swimming  head  and  quaking 
knees,  out  of  consciousness  of  my  unfitness,  and  of 
the  likelihood  that  I  should  fall  into  some  grievous 
error  of  conduct.  But  for  all  the  strangeness  of 
my  being  there,  dressed  as  I  was,  which  should  be 
for  a  sign  to  anybody  that  I  was  out  of  my  element, 
I  have  it  to  testify  that  I  caught  nobody  staring  at 
me,  or  indicating  by  as  much  as  the  quiver  of  an 
eyelash  that  he  was  surprised  to  see  me  there,  and 
this  I  took  for  a  mark  of  fine  breeding,  and  a  proof 
of  the  considerateness  which  is  the  beginning  of  all 
politeness.  I  could  fill  two  and  possibly  three  large 
books  and  tell  no  more  than  I  saw  at  the  club,  for 
nothing  escaped  me,  I  believe,  though  I  was  care- 
ful, too,  taking  the  cue  from  the  others,  to  refrain 
from  staring  on   my  own  part,   and,   what  with 


A  Lord  of  Lands.  103 

frequent    rehearsals    during    the    years    that    have 

intervened    (even   Ludovika,    who   has   heard   my 

stories  oftenest  and  is  not,  at  best,  a  distinguished 

Hstener,  nevertheless  dehghts  to  this  day  to  hear  me 

recount  this  part,  finding  therein  some  gratification 

of  her  womanly  vanity,  I  surmise,  and  a  feeling  of 

sharing  in  my  honors)  it  is  all  fresh  in  my  mind. 

But  I  will  mention  here  only  the  rich  silence,  which 

struck  me  most  of  all.     Although  there  were  many 

sitting  at  the  tables  in  the  great  dining-room,  and 

eating,  there  was  no  clatter  of  dishes,  and  no  loud 

bawling  of  voices,  such  as  you   hear  where  numbers 

of  the  uncultivated  are  feeding,  but  only  the  soft 

murmur  of  polite  conversation,   with   the  waiters 

gliding  about  as  quietly  as  shadows,  quickly  enough, 

but  without  once  seeming  to  hurry.     I  know  no 

reason  why  the  wealthy  should  be  by  that  more 

mannerly,  unless  it  is  that  their  wealth  fosters  in 

them  a  self-respect,  but  so  they  seem  to  be,  at  all 

events  among  themselves. 

When  the  black  man  brought  the  card  with  the 
menu  printed  on  it,  and  laid  it  down  on  the  table 
under  my  nose  (it  was  one  small  circumstance 
in  my  favor  that  I  had  encountered  the  word 
menu,  and  knew  sufficiently  well  what  it  meant) 
I  was  given  new  cause  for  alarm,  for  not  one 
title  could  I  make  anything  out  of,  though  I 
searched  the  card  as  narrowly  as  I  might  in  the 
short  time  I  had  for  it,  in  the  hope  of  coming 
upon  something  I  could  fathom.  It  was  French, 
I  presume,  but  it  might  have  been  Sanscrit,  for  all 
the  meaning  it   conveyed   to   me.      For  one  wild 


I04  A  Lord  of  Lands. 

instant  I  thought  of  ordering  two  or  three  things 
at  random,  and  trust  to  luck  for  the  rest,  and 
then  I  asked  myself,  what  if  they  should  turn  out  to 
be  dishes  which  I  knew  not  how  to  go  about  eating? 
And  what  were  all  those  forks  for,  beside  my  plate, 
to  the  number  of  half  a  dozen,  I  should  say,  although 
to  my  distracted  senses  they  may  well  have  appeared 
more  numerous  than  they  were,  and  what  did  they 
portend  but  more  pitfalls  for  my  feet,  should  I 
make  bold  to  invade  this  unknown  ground  ?  I  was 
pretty  much  sweating  blood,  as  the  phrase  is,  and 
none  the  easier  was  I  made  upon  observing,  as  I 
could,  without  looking  up,  that  Jones  Baring  was 
watching  me,  no  doubt  with  an  interest  in  seeing 
how  I  would  bear  myself.  But  with  the  pattern  of 
leisureliness  which  my  betters  were  setting  all  about 
me,  I  felt  that  I  had  not  to  hurry,  at  least,  and  so 
I  suffered  a  considerable  interval  to  elapse  before 
taking  any  action  whatever,  and  in  that  interval  I 
had  the  good  fortune,  for  I  can  claim  but  small 
credit  for  my  good  sense,  to  reflect  that  if  I  tried 
to  be  myself  I  was  less  likely  to  make  a  mess  of  it 
than  if  I  tried  to  be  what  I  was  not,  and  besides, 
even  supposing  I  should  manage  to  appear  more 
cultivated  and  mannerly  than  I  was,  what  was  I 
to  gain  thereby?  It  was  not  my  manners  which  I 
had  to  prove  in  Jones  Baring*s  eyes,  but  my  good 
faith.  Accordingly  I  laid  the  card  quietly  down  and 
said  to  the  waiter: 

"  This  is  all  quite  strange  to  me.  I  am  not  at 
all  hungry,  but  if  I  must  eat,  will  you  be  so  kind  as 
to  bring  me  a  plain  dinner  for  a  working  man  ?  " 


A   Lord  of  Lands.  105 

The  Old  Man  was  pleased,  if  his  laughter  meant 
anything,  for  it  was  hearty,  and  in  all  respects  good 
to  hear,  with  no  intimation  of  ridicule  in  it  I 
caught  the  note  of  cordial  approval,  and  my 
embarrassment  was  altogether  removed,  and  indeed 
in  my  elation  I  had  something  to  do  to  keep  myself 
from  being  carried  into  an  excess  of  jocularity.  But 
I  made  out  to  bear  in  mind  that  I  had  not,  even  now 
made  so  good  an  impression  that  I  could  not  spoil 
It,  and  restrained  my  forwardness. 

"  That's  just  the  kind  of  dinner  I  order  for  my- 
self," said  the  Old  Man,  when  he  had  had  his  laugh 
and  then  he  added,  to  the  darkey:   ''  Pinckney,  will 
you   duplicate  my   regular   lunch     for    Mr     Fitz- 
gerald ?  " 

The  lunch  was  a  long  time  coming  (I  believe  it 
IS  the  character  of  eating-places  that  the  higher  they 
rise  in  the  scale  of  gentility,  the  longer  they  keep 
you  waiting,  the  philosophy  of  this  being,  I  should 
guess,  that  patience  is  the  quality  of  good  breeding 
and  by  that  the  long  delay  will  discourage  the  patron- 
age of  the  ill-bred)  and  after  it  was  come  we  were 
a  long  time  eating  it,  as  I  thought.     The  Old  Man 
went  about  the  business  very  deliberately,  when  you 
reflect  how  valuable  his  time  was,  with  considerable 
pauses  between  the  mouthfuls,  as  if  he  would  wait 
for  each  to  arrive  quite  at  its   destination  before 
starting  another  off,  and  I  felt  bound  to  bear  him 
company,  although  it  would  have  been  my  way  to 
dispatch  the  matter,  as  is  the  fashion  of  working- 
men,  whose  appetites,  not  to  speak  of  exterior  neces- 
sity,   seldom    permit    them    to    dawdle   over    their 


io6  A  Lord  of  Lands. 

victuals.  With  all  my  boorishness  and  crass  ignor- 
ance of  the  proprieties,  an  instinct  told  me  it  would 
not  become  me  to  go  racing  ahead,  as  it  were,  and 
then  sit  idly  with  the  air  of  waiting  for  my  host  to 
catch  up,  and  I  strove  to  moderate  my  speed  accord- 
ingly. In  the  meanwhile,  the  Old  Man  had  directed 
the  conversation  back  to  its  original  channel,  and 
was  plying  me  throughout  with  questions  of  a 
searching  nature,  to  answer  which  with  scantiest 
justice  kept  me  so  busy  that  I  was  saved  from  all 
danger  of  saying  too  much,  a  circumstance  in  no 
small  measure  fortunate,  I  assure  you.  He  drew  me 
pretty  dry,  as  to  the  details  of  our  project,  and  to 
my  unspeakable  comfort,  almost  every  new  disclo- 
sure seemed  to  please  him.  I  say  almost,  for  now 
and  then  the  shade  flitted  over  his  face,  to  startle 
me,  but  it  always  passed,  and  on  the  whole  it  was 
plain  that  his  approval  was  being  won.  What 
brought  him,  at  length,  to  something  nearly 
approaching  enthusiasm,  and  I  was  not  greatly 
surprised,  either,  knowing  something  of  the  views 
common  to  moneyed  men,  was  our  purpose  to 
hold   no  land   in   common. 

"  I'm  glad,"  he  said,  almost  radiantly,  "  that 
you've  got  none  of  this  socialistic  nonsense  about 
you.  Socialism  is  a  great  humbug,  although  such 
a  man  as  I  am  wastes  his  breath  telling  people  so. 
They've  got  to  follow  it  to  their  destruction,  before 
they  will  believe  the  truth  about  it.  Any  policy 
is  a  humbug  which  proposes  to  do  away  with 
individual  initiative.  We  owe  everything  to  in- 
dividual initiative,  not  only  wealth  and  the  material 


A  Lord  of  Lands.  107 

things,  but  character  in  its  highest  manifestations. 
No  perfection  of  communal  relations,  no  activity  on 
the  part  of  the  state,  however  honest  and  faithful, 
will  ever  take  the  place  of  individual  initiative." 

It  was  not  my  place  to  dispute  him.  I  might, 
perhaps,  since  I  had  been  for  years  a  constant 
attendant  upon  the  sessions  of  the  Trades  Council, 
where  I  sat  as  a  delegate  from  our  Union,  and  had 
heard  there  no  end  of  talk  from  those  earnest  men 
whose  faces,  to  use  their  own  words,  were  turned 
toward  the  dawn.  Nor  will  I  deny  that  my 
sympathies,  and  prejudices,  were  of  a  nature  to 
commit  me  to  the  poor  man's  view  rather  than  the 
rich  man's,  but  for  all  that,  I  did  not  deem  myself 
called  upon  to  fly  at  Jones  Baring's  throat,  meta- 
phorically speaking. 

**  No  doubt,"  said  I,  very  respectfully,  and  then, 
to  my  considerable  relief,  he  changed  the  subject. 

Elizabeth,  with  a  truly  feminine  feeling  for  the 
small  things  of  life,  wishes  me  to  incorporate  some 
description,  even  though  but  a  brief  one,  of  the 
various  dishes  of  which  we  partook,  and,  when  i 
question  the  wisdom  of  this,  urging  upon  her  the 
need  to  uphold  the  dignity  of  the  narrative,  that 
it  may  have  the  greater  credit  with  future  ages, 
she  points  out  that  in  the  literary  remains  of  ancient 
times  by  no  means  the  least  esteemed  passages  are 
those  which  tell  us  what  those  distant  peoples  had 
to  eat,  and  so  I  will  say  this  much,  that  there  was 
a  beefsteak  which  surpassed  anything  I  have  ever 
met  with,  of  the  sort.  The  general  character  of 
beefsteak,  as  I  have  learned  it  by  long  experience, 


io8  A  Lord  of  Lands. 

is  a  stout  resistance  to  the  teeth,  but  this  specimen 
all  but  melted  in  the  mouth,  it  was  that  yielding.  I 
am  inclined  to  attribute  its  excellence  to  some  knack 
in  the  broiling,  but  Ludovika,  who  has  never  been 
able,  try  as  she  would,  to  produce  the  like  of  it, 
avers  that  the  meat  had  been  kept  until  the  process 
of  natural  decay  had  induced  a  great  tenderness, 
adding,  with  what  authority  I  know  not,  that  it  is 
the  practice  of  the  luxurious  to  eat  flesh  which  com- 
mon folks  would  pronounce  rotten.  Be  that  as  it 
may,  I  can  testify  that  the  steak  tasted  most  wonder- 
fully good,  although  I  ate  but  little  of  it,  after  all, 
only  two  helpings,  as  I  remember,  with  each  helping 
illustrating,  in  the  quantity  of  it,  the  moderation 
which  was  the  spirit  of  the  place.  There  are  times 
in  the  life  of  even  the  heartiest  man  when  his  heart 
swells  to  such  proportions  that  it  seems  to  occupy 
pretty  much  his  whole  interior,  leaving  no  room  for 
the  stomach  to  do  its  accustomed  duty  in. 

When  we  had  lunched,  or,  rather,  in  my  own  case 
at  least,  gone  through  with  the  motions,  the  Old 
Man  would  have  me  go  back  to  the  office  with  him, 
declaring  that  he  had  much  yet  to  speak  of,  and  now 
again  I  had  to  ask  myself  if  I  was  awake,  or  only 
dreaming  after  all.  Was  it  to  be  believed,  was 
it  possible,  that  the  great  Jones  Baring,  the  man  of 
many  millions,  the  master  mind  of  vast  enterprises, 
was  taken  with  our  little  affair  to  such  a  degree  as 
this,  that  he  was  giving  up  to  it  the  very  heart  of 
his  precious  day?  I  have  only  the  vaguest  notion 
of  high  finance,  such  as  the  newspapers  give  us,  but 
I  have  no  doubt  that  wonders  are  wrought  by  it. 


A   Lord  of  Lands.  109 

and  if  I  were  to  be  told  that  Jones  Baring  could 
amass  a  hundred  thousand  dollars  in  the  space  of 
two  good  hours  such  as  he  gave  to  me  that  day,  I 
should  not  scruple  to  believe  it.  It  was  written  in 
my  first  copy-book  that  time  is  money,  and  while  I 
was  not  able,  in  those  early  years,  to  penetrate  to 
the  inwardness  of  the  maxim,  nevertheless,  it  stuck 
in  my  mind,  with  the  iteration,  and  now,  as  I  recall 
it,  I  can  see  how  very  true  it  is,  especially  for  those 
who  have  the  foresight  to  see  their  chance  afar,  and 
the  deftness  to  catch  it  as  it  passes. 

I  have  no  wish  to  make  myself  out  more  than 
human,  and  so  I  will  freely  confess  that  I  held  my 
head  pretty  high  when  the  Old  Man  led  me  in  past 
the  outer  guard  and  the  inner  guard  and  the  grand 
eunuch,  chatting  the  while  with  a  familiar  air  which 
was  wholly  devoid  of  condescension.  The  outer 
guard,  who  undoubtedly  fancied  himself  cleverly 
rid  of  me,  appeared,  as  I  thought,  to  experience  a 
difficulty  with  his  breathing  at  the  sight,  as  if  he 
questioned  the  testimony  of  his  senses.  The  inner 
guard,  being  older  at  his  trade,  was  naturally  more 
self-contained,  though  I  am  convinced  he  had  his 
thoughts.  But  the  grand  eunuch  was  as  unmoved 
as  a  graven  image.  For  him  I  had  a  sort  of  pity, 
now,  thinking  of  the  hardship  of  his  position,  by 
which  he  was  to  efface  and  deny  and  trample  down 
all  the  impulses  of  human  likes  and  disHkes, 
wherein  a  man  finds  about  the  most  of  his  sat- 
isfaction, until  he  was  become  something  in  the 
nature  of  a  mere  appliance,  like  the  radiator,  or  the 
roller  of  the  shade.     I   was  sorry   for  the  grand 


1 1  o  A  Lord  of  Lands. 

eunuch,  I  say,  whereas,  in  the  beginning,  I  had  the 
will  to  lay  hands  of  violence  upon  him.  I  fancy  that 
every  place  of  power  has  after  all  its  pitiful  aspect, 
though  few  ever  get  to  see  it. 

In  the  inmost  office,  which  proved  to  be  a  simple, 
almost  a  bare  room,  with  none  of  the  adornment  I 
expected  to  see,  the  Old  Man  had  me  sit  down  in  a 
big,  old-fashioned  rocking-chair,  while  he  asked  me 
more  questions,  although  it  had  long  seemed  to  me 
there  were  no  more  to  ask.  And  now  he  pried  most 
particularly,  with  a  minuteness  which  struck  me  then 
as  being  all  but  trivial,  although  I  now  see  in  it 
his  superior  sense  of  proportion,  by  which  he  more 
correctly  discriminated  the  important  from  the 
unimportant, — he  pried  particularly,  I  repeat,  into 
the  nationality  of  the  men  who  were  to  make  up  our 
colony.  He  launched  into  this  line  of  inquiry 
bluntly,  by  asking  me  if  there  were  any  Norwegians 
among  us.  I  could  only  reply  that  there  were  four 
families  whom  I  took,  from  their  names,  and  their 
look,  and  their  manner  of  speaking  English,  to  be 
Scandinavians,  and  for  aught  I  knew  to  the  contrary, 
they  might  be  Norwegians.  It  did  not  seem  to  me 
to  matter  much,  one  way  or  the  other,  but  the  Old 
Man  would  not  have  it  so. 

"  Norwegians,"  said  he,  "  are  the  best  equipped 
people  in  the  world  for  our  kind  of  pioneering.  No- 
body knows  so  well  as  a  Norwegian  how  to  cope 
with  the  hardships  of  a  new  country,  how  to  conquer 
those  which  are  conquerable,  and  how  to  endure 
those  which  are  not.     People  who  know  how  to  be 


A  Lord  of  Lands.  1 1 1 

poor  are  fully  as  valuable  as  people  who  know  how 
to  get  rich." 

This  was  a  new  point,  to  me,  and  before  I  could 
think  of  aught  to  say,  he  left  it,  and  asked  me  about 
Germans. 

"  We  have  five  families  of  Germans,"  I  said,  and 
now  I  was  made  uneasy  afresh,  not  having  bethought 
myself,  hitherto,  what  a  markedly  foreign  lot  we 
were,  in  respect  of  our  descent.  But  the  Old  Man 
seemed  pleased  enough. 

"  Germans  are  all  right,"  said  he,  cordially. 
"  What  should  we  ever  do  without  them  ?  More 
than  a  million  of  them  have  found  homes  among  us, 
and  I  wonder  if  we  rightly  appreciate  what  that 
means.  Too  many  of  us  think  only  of  what  the 
country  has  done  for  these  immigrants,  forgetting 
the  great  things  the  immigrants  have  done  for  the 
country." 

He  looked  very  serious  while  he  said  this,  but  in 
a  moment  his  face  softened  into  a  smile,  and  he 
went  on,  about  the  Germans,  more  in  a  whimsical 
vein,  as  I  thought. 

"  Do  you  know,  Fitzgerald,"  said  he,  "  that  an 
Irish  husband  and  a  German  wife  make  the  best 
cross  in  the  world?  It  is  a  fact.  The  children  of 
such  a  marriage  are  almost  sure  to  turn  out  well. 
The  Irish  blood  gives  them  snap,  and  the  German 
blood  gives  them  poise.  If  I  were  a  king,  I  should 
wish  my  people  to  be  of  mixed  blood,  Irish  and 
German,  and  I  shouldn't  mind  if  there  was  a  dash  of 
the  Scotch  thrown  in,  though  that  doesn't  so  much 
matter.     No  thoroughbreds  for  me,  if  you  please. 


112  A   Lord  of  Lands. 

The  king  of  such  people  would  have  to  mind  his 
p's  and  q's,  but  if  he  did  his  duty,  he  could  rest  easy, 
for  all  the  crown  on  his  head." 

He  laughed  here,  but  less  by  w^ay  of  applauding 
his  own  humor,  doubtless,  than  to  make  it  very  clear 
he  was  only  joking  when  he  spoke  of  being  a  king, 
for  it  was  not  seldom  flung  out  at  him,  especially  by 
hostile  newspapers,  that  he  already  had  more  than 
regal  power,  and  used  it  too  often  in  a  truly  regal 
way,  that  is,  to  oppress  somebody.  It  came  upon 
me,  in  view  of  his  levity,  especially,  to  say  that  my 
own  children  had  a  German  mother,  and  because  I 
did  not  I  have  never  ceased  to  be  upbraided  by 
Ludovika,  but  I  am  well  assured  I  did  right  to 
refrain.  A  very  slight  admixture  of  vainglory  on 
my  part  might  have  had  a  chilling  effect  upon  the 
spirits  of  our  great  and  good  friend,  although  it 
was  no  consideration  of  prudence  which  kept  me 
from  speaking,  but  rather  an  uncertainty  as  to 
w^hether  he  was  not  ironical  in  his  praise  of  mixed 
races,  as  compared  with  those  of  pure  lineage. 
Moreover,  I  had  no  great  chance,  for  at  once  he  was 
done  laughing,  the  Old  Man  asked  me,  soberly,  if 
there  were  no  Americans  in  the  party. 

In  this  I  misapprehended  him  w^holly.  The  fear 
which  had  hastily  taken  form  in  my  mind,  lest  he 
consider  it  a  drawback,  our  being  so  many  of  us 
foreigners,  laid  rather  a  strong  hold  on  me,  now, 
what  with  the  earnest  look  he  gave  me,  from  under 
his  heavy  brows,  and  I  made  as  much  as  I  could  of 
there  being  several  Americans  among  us,  one  of 
whom,  I  knew,  was  able  to  trace  his  ancestry  back  to 


A   Lord  of  Lands.  113 

the  original  settlers  in  a  part  of  Massachusetts,  a 
matter  of  two  hundred  years,  or  so.  I  exhibited  the 
fact  as  impressively  as  my  narrow  powers  and  still 
narrower  information  permitted,  and  I  had  the 
satisfaction  of  observing  that  Jones  Baring  was 
thinking  over  it. 

**  A  poor  man?  "  he  said,  at  length. 

"  He  is,"  said  I,  *'  a  very  poor  man,  indeed.  He 
has  five  in  his  family,  and  some  weeks  he  earns  no 
more  than  seven  dollars." 

Still  the  Old  Man  was  thinking,  but  now  I  could 
not  help  but  see  that  the  hard  lines,  which  had  been 
pretty  much  smoothed  out,  with  all  his  laughter  and 
genial  comment,  were  coming  back  a  little. 

*'  It's  nothing  against  a  man  that  he  is  poor,"  he 
said,  after  quite  a  pause,  and  speaking  slowly.  ''  In- 
deed, if  he  is  to  be  a  good  pioneer  it  is  necessary  that 
he  be  poor.  Poverty  provides  the  discontent  with- 
out which  no  man  will  get  ahead.  But  there  has 
got  to  be  something  for  the  prod  to  stimulate.  It 
is  nothing  against  a  man  that  he  is  an  American 
able  to  trace  his  lineage  back  through  eight  or  ten 
generations  of  native  stock.  But  a  stock  which  has 
lived  upwards  of  two  hundred  years  in  this  land 
of  magnificent  opportunity,  and  peters  out  at  last  to 
a  man  who  earns  only  seven  dollars  a  week,  is  not 
good  pioneering  material.  To  be  candid,  it  is  good 
for  nothing,  except  to  recruit  the  ranks  of  the  poor 
which  we  have  always  with  us,  the  hopeless  poor.  I 
have  no  wish  to  raise  up  obstacles,  but  I  am  free  to 
say,  as  between  you  and  me,  that  this  man  won't 


114  A  Lord  of  Lands. 

make  good.  He  hasn't  the  gumption,  or  he  wouldn*t 
be  where  he  is." 

In  something  less  than  a  year's  time,  I  had  reason 
to  recall  these  words  of  Jones  Baring's,  and  to  think 
better  of  them  than  I  did  when  first  I  heard  them. 
For  then,  they  shocked  me,  and  pained  me,  and 
forced  me  almost  to  revise  the  estimate  I  had  of  the 
Old  Man's  goodness  of  heart.  I  thought  of  poor 
Brown,  and  the  pitiful,  abject  manner  his  servile 
calling  had  got  him  into,  and  my  heart  fairly  ached, 
and  I  vowed,  inwardly,  that  if  it  came  to  a  choice 
between  giving  up  the  project  or  leaving  Brown  out 
of  it,  I,  for  one,  would  stand  by  him,  though  I 
died  for  it.  But  it  came  to  no  such  choice.  Having 
voiced  his  opinion,  or  prophecy,  perhaps  I  should 
call  it,  in  view  of  all  that  happened  after,  the  Old 
Man  never  spoke  of  the  matter  again.  There  was  a 
silence  betwixt  us,  lasting  perhaps  half  a  minute, 
during  which  I  was  on  the  anxious  seat,  with  won- 
dering what  next,  and  then  he  struck  straight  to  the 
heart  of  the  business  by  asking  me,  plumply,  what 
we  expected  him  to  do  about  it. 

Of  course  I  knew  this  question,  or  something  like 
it,  had  to  come,  sooner  or  later,  and  indeed  it  was 
the  question  which  I  had  especially  prepared  my- 
self to  answer  but  for  all  that,  now  it  was  actually 
asked  me,  I  was  fluttered  by  it,  and  hot  and  cold 
flashes  chased  one  another  up  and  down  my  spine, 
and  there  was  a  groping,  within  me,  after  the  points. 
But  I  made  out  to  say  my  say,  for  better  or  for 
worse,  trying  very  hard  not  to  think  of  the  bald,  set 


A  Lord  of  Lands.  115 

character  of  my  discourse,  and  the  unmitigated 
audacity  of  my  appeal. 

"  Briefly,"  said  I,  "  we've  no  money.  With  our 
growing  families,  none  of  us  has  been  able  to  lay 
by  a  penny  for  a  rainy  day.  In  order  to  carry  out 
these  plans  we  have  formed,  we  shall  need  about  a 
thousand  dollars  for  each  family,  as  we  figure  it, 
and  this  we  shall  have  to  borrow.  We,  or,  at  least, 
I  have  taken  the  liberty  to  hope  that  you  may  see 
fit  to  advance  us  this  money,  or  so  much  of  it  as  we 
may  need  to  get  started.  But  believe  me,  I  have  not 
indulged  this  hope  until  I  made  myself  tolerably  sure 
of  our  ability  to  repay  you,  and  return  the  favor, 
for  we  wish,  above  all  else,  to  be  beholden  to  no 
man.  The  Canadian  Pacific  company,  if  I  under- 
stand their  position,  have  no  notion  of  giving  any- 
thing to  their  immigrants,  but,  on  the  contrary, 
expect  to  get  their  money  back  and  a  good  profit  on 
the  investment.  I  know  we  are  asking  a  great 
thing,  but  no  greater  than  we  expect  to  pay  for." 

If  Jones  Baring  had  laughed  in  my  face,  I  could 
not  have  blamed  him.  For  a  moment,  indeed,  hav- 
ing finished  my  speech,  with  the  full  meaning  of  it 
bearing  down  upon  me,  I  sat  there  wondering  why 
he  did  not  laugh.  What  could  be  more  visionary, 
when  you  come  to  think  of  it,  than  my  expectation 
of  winning  the  favor  of  a  practical  man  of  affairs? 
Never  had  the  utter  absurdity  of  it  appealed  to  me 
as  now,  with  the  sound  of  my  own  voice  ringing 
hollowly  in  my  ears,  as  if  another  person  had  been 
speaking,  and  arguing  nonsense.  But  the  Old  Man 
was  not  that  way  affected.     On  the  contrary,  he 


1 1 6  A   Lord  of  Lands. 

fixed  his  eyes  upon  me,  as  attentively  and  respect- 
fully as  if  I  were  some  great  luminary  of  the  world 
of  enterprise  unfolding  a  project  of  the  first  impor- 
tance. When  I  was  done,  he  asked  some  more 
questions,  touching  the  manner  in  which  we  pur- 
posed handling  the  money  if  we  got  it,  whether 
through  a  single  disbursing  ofiicer  or  committee,  or 
every  man  for  himself,  and  then  he  fell  silent  once 
more,  and  I  could  see  that  he  was  calculating  busily 
in  his  mind. 

"  You  want,"  he  said,  presently,  "  about  sixteen 
thousand  dollars  in  all." 

As  it  happened,  I  had  never  once  thought  of  the 
lump  sum,  what  with  figuring  the  bill  for  each 
family  separately,  and  the  enormity  of  it  made  me  a 
trifle  faint.  Sixteen  thousand  dollars  seemed  a 
much  greater  matter  than  anything  I  had  conceived 
of,  though  I  know  not  why,  since  it  is  clear  at  a 
glance  that  a  thousand  dollars  for  each  of  sixteen 
families  comes  to  nothing  less ;  a  staggering  matter, 
indeed.  But  here  by  native  impudence  asserted  it- 
self, and  for  once  in  my  life  was  perhaps  of  some 
advantage  to  me,  and  I  replied,  with  astounding 
ease  and  coolness,  that  we  felt  convinced  we  should 
make  sixteen  thousand  dollars  suffice.  You  will  see 
that  I  was  getting  out  of  the  narrow  w^ay  of  looking 
at  affairs,  with  a  vengeance. 

It  was  some  little  time,  though  not  as  long, 
probably,  as  it  seemed  to  me,  hanging  as  I  was  upon 
his  lips,  knowing  that  the  last  word,  be  it  good  or 
bad,  was  at  hand,  until  he  spoke  again.  He  leaned 
far  back  in  his  chair,  and  rocked  it  gently  upon  its 


A   Lord  of  Lands. 


117 


springs  while  he  stared  out  of  the  window  at  the 
streams  of  traffic  pouring  up  and  down  the  street 
outside.  I  can  see  him  now,  as  he  looked.  When- 
ever I  think  of  him,  this  is  the  picture  which  first 
comes  to  my  mind. 

"  Fitzgerald,"  he  said,  "  do  you  wonder  why  I 
am  giving  so  much  of  my  time  to  you  and  your 
plan?" 

"  Frankly,  sir,  I  do,"  said  I.  "  I  wonder  very 
much  indeed.  " 

He  wheeled  about  suddenly,  and  leaned  over  to- 
ward me  and  laid  his  hand  upon  my  knee,  and  looked 
me  straight  in  the  eye. 

"  You  have  interested  me,"  he  said,  *'  both  as  a 
capitalist,  whose  business  is  the  breeding  of  money, 
and  as  a  philanthropist,  whose  business  is  the  better- 
ment of  the  human  race,  for,  in  spite  of  all  they 
say  against  me,  I  believe  I  have  some  title  to  the 
latter  character.  It  strikes  me,  as  a  capitalist  and 
as  a  philanthropist,  that  there  may  be  the  germ  of 
great  things  in  this  plan  of  yours.  Anyway,  I 
have  determined  to  put  it  to  the  trial." 

Now  when  he  had  spoken  these  words,  in  his 
straightforward,  convincing  manner,  the  manner  of 
a  man  whose  heart  was  in  his  speech,  I  could  have 
shouted  hosannah.  I  could  have  gone  down  on  my 
knees  in  thanksgiving,  though  for  many  years  my 
knees  had  been  unused  to  such  service,  I  say  it  with 
regret,  for  I  respect  the  religion  which  my  parents 
taught  me,  and  in  my  sober  moments  much  misdoubt 
if  I  have  not  done  very  wrong  to  neglect  it.  I  am 
not  a  fawning  person,  either  by  right  of  race  or 


1 1 8  A   Lord  of  Lands. 

individual  temper,  but  in  that  instant  I  could  have 
prostrated  myself  at  Jones  Baring's  feet  and  kissed 
the  hem  of  his  garment,  I  was  to  that  degree  carried 
away  by  my  gratitude,  and  the  rush  of  my  emotions, 
after  all  the  carking  anxiety  and  the  hovering  on 
tired  wings  of  hope,  over  the  very  abyss  of  despair. 
And  what  did  I  do?  Nothing,  simply,  but  sit  very 
still  in  the  big  rocking-chair,  and  listen  to  him, 
while  he  went  on,  with  the  most  delightful  discourse 
I  ever  heard  in  all  my  hfe. 

"  I  daresay,"  he  said,  "  if  I  could  offer  to  the 
world  a  plan  which  promised,  with  any  sort  of 
assurance,  to  get  the  poor  people  out  of  the  cities 
and  make  farmers  of  them,  even  the  most  indifferent 
farmers,  I  could  procure  twenty  million  dollars  in 
twenty-four  hours,  given  outright,  gladly  and  with- 
out condition,  to  put  that  plan  into  practice  and 
effect. 

"  So  much  for  philanthropy. 

"  On  the  other  hand,  any  plan  by  which  the 
people  who  crowd  the  cities  to  the  point  of  suffoca- 
tion, and  barely  exist  there;  who  are,  commercially 
speaking,  of  little  or  no  account,  since  they  produce 
relatively  nothing  and  consume  just  as  little  as  will 
keep  life  in  them, — any  plan,  I  say,  by  which  these 
people  should  be  induced  to  go  out  and  settle  on  the 
vacant  lands  of  the  West,  to  become  generous  pro- 
ducers there,  and  generous  consumers,  would  be 
"worth  more  millions  to  the  railroads  than  you  could 
easily  count;  and  through  the  railroads  to  the 
bankers  and  jobbers  and  manufacturers,  since  they 
are  all  hung  together  and  what  helps  one  helps 


A  Lord  of  Lands.  1 1 9 

all;  not  only  to  us  who  are  living  now,  but  our 
children  and  our  children's  children.  For  all  these, 
it  were  better,  and  by  that  I  mean  worth  more 
money,  to  have  our  prairies  made  into  grainfields, 
than  to  have  a  gold  mine  under  every  quarter 
section. 

"  So  much  for  business. 

"  There's  no  room  for  philanthropy  where  busi- 
ness will  answer  the  purpose,  so  we'll  put 
philanthropy  aside  and  talk  business.  Your  plan 
is  at  least  worth  trying  on.  We  spend  many  times 
sixteen  thousand  dollars  on  experiments  far  less 
promising,  and  think  nothing  of  it,  though  we  fail, 
nor  do  we  consider  the  money  lost.  It's  all  in  the 
day's  wages,  and  if  we  don't  experiment,  we 
stagnate.  What  you  propose  seems  to  me  very 
likely  to  do  away,  to  a  great  extent,  with  the 
loneliness  of  farm  life,  sufficiently  so,  perhaps,  to 
remove  the  most  serious  obstacle  in  the  way  of  a 
better  distribution  of  the  population,  such  as  we 
all  wish  for.  You  may  go  back  to  your  friends  and 
tell  them  I  am  with  you.  You  will  not  fail  of  the 
outside  help  you  need,  and  I  have  hopes,  from  what 
you  tell  me,  that  you  won't  prove  lacking  in  the 
grit  to  help  yourselves,  which  is  after  all  the  main 
thing.  I  don't  by  any  means  propose  to  pay  over 
sixteen  thousand  dollars  in  cash  to  a  group  of 
men  who,  however  sensible  they  may  be,  are  unused 
to  handling  large  sums  of  money.  But  I  shall  see 
to  it  that  you  have  your  land  and  your  other 
material  when  you  are  ready  for  these  things.  As 
soon  as  you  make  up  your  minds  about  where  you 


120  A  Lord  of  Lands. 

wish  to  locate,  come  to  me  again,  and  I'll  have  our 
land  agents  show  you  what  we've  got  to  offer  in 
the  way  of  farms.  We  own  some  few  odd  millions 
of  acres,  in  six  or  seven  different  states,  scattered 
all  the  way  along  three  thousand  miles  of  track, 
and  I  rather  guess  we  can  supply  you  with  what 
you  want." 

Then  he  stood  up  and  held  out  his  hand  to  me, 
with  his  pleasantest  look. 

"  I'm  very  much  obliged  to  you,"  he  said,  "  for 
coming  to  me." 

What  could  I  answer?  Never  in  my  life  was 
I  so  completely  at  a  loss.  When  I  tell  that  I 
spoke  never  a  word,  that  I  was  dumb  as  an  ox,  in 
spite  of  my  native  glibness,  I  will  give  you  the  best 
notion,  I  think,  of  how  deeply  I  was  moved.  The 
Old  Man  went  with  me  to  the  door,  still  holding 
my  hand,  and  bowed  me  out,  all  very  respectfully, 
and  I  daresay  more  cordially  than  if  I  were  Commo- 
dore Vanderbilt  or  Jay  Gould  and  repeated  that  he 
was  very  much  obliged  to  me,  and  expressed  the  hope 
of  seeing  me  again  soon.  Pray  do  not  understand  me 
to  intimate  that  I  had  compelled  this  great  man  to 
look  up  to  me,  by  any  extraordinary  virtue  of  mine. 
His  courtesy  was  a  tribute  rather  to  the  straight- 
forward sincerity  which  I  had  been  so  fortunate 
as  to  convince  him  of,  and  which  was  no  especial 
credit  to  me,  since  it  lies  with  any  man  who  has 
the  will.  This  final  outburst  of  his  kindliness  took 
place  in  the  presence  of  the  grand  eunuch,  and  I 
have  it  to  record  that  this  singular  personage  never- 
theless preserved  his  amazing  calm  throughout.     In 


A   Lord  of  Lands.  121 

my  time  I  had  been  angry  with  the  grand  eunuch, 
and  again  I  had  felt  a  pity  for  him,  and  now  I  was 
moved  to  a  degree  of  admiration,  sitting  unmoved 
where  another  man  would  all  but  fall  dead  of 
astonishment. 

I  flew  home  with  winged  feet,  so  to  say,  and 
breathlessly  informed  Ludovika  of  the  wonderful 
great  things  which  had  come  to  pass  since  I  left 
her,  and  she  did  not  believe  me.  Can  you  wonder? 
Not  that  she  openly  declared  a  disbelief,  as  any 
woman  out  of  my  own  race  would  have  been  only 
too  quick  to  do,  under  like  circumstances.  She 
only  looked  it,  but  by  that  she  made  it  sufficiently 
plain  to  me,  and  I  roared  with  laughter.  Then  I 
could  read  it  in  her  face  that  she  thought  I  had  been 
drinking,  and  she  managed,  very  slyly,  as  she 
imagined,  to  come  near  enough  to  smell  my  breath 
without  seeming  to  do  so,  and  when,  with  that  con- 
clusive test,  she  found  herself  mistaken,  I  surmise 
she  was  taken  with  a  fear  that  I  had  been  stricken 
in  my  mind,  what  with  all  my  worry.  At  all  events, 
she  paled  visibly,  and  regarded  me  most  anxiously. 
Nor  was  her  anxiety  much  allayed  when  I  danced 
about  her  in  a  frolicsome  manner,  shouting  and 
laughing,  even  though  I  snatched  a  hearty  kiss  as 
often  as  I  came  near  her,  a  thing  which  no  woman 
ever  looked  upon  as  a  symptom  of  insanity,  I  am 
sure. 

But  in  due  time,  when  I  had  sobered  down,  and 
still  stuck  to  my  story,  and  had  told  it  over  and  over 
without  variation,  her  doubts  had  to  give  way,  and 
the  doubts  of  the  others,  likewise,  who  were  similarly 


122  A  Lord  of  Lands. 

affected  with  misgivings,  at  first  blush,  as  why 
should  they  not  be,  with  the  improbability  of  it  all? 
It  was  a  fairy  story,  no  less,  and  there  were  times 
when  I  found  myself,  even,  on  the  verge  of  doubt- 
ing it. 

And  so  we  had  pulled  our  castle  down  out  of  the 
air,  but  we  were  not  forgetful,  in  our  joy,  of  the 
many  things  yet  to  be  done,  nor  failed  to  bear  in 
mind  that  these  things  had  to  be  done  by  ourselves. 
The  fairy  godmother  had  done  all  that  was  to  be 
expected  of  her. 


CHAPTER  VI. 

Our  chaffering-s,  now  that  we  were  come  into  such 
a  prosperity  of  fortune,  centered  about  the  choice 
of  the  land.  Not  a  wight  of  us  knew  anything 
more  of  soil  than  that  it  was  composed  of  dirt,  and 
dirt  was  dirt,  but  don't  imagine  that  we  were  si- 
lenced by  our  ignorance.  I  can  laugh,  for  all  the 
years  that  have  passed,  as  often  as  I  recall  the  amaz- 
ing theories  that  were  broached  by  one  or  another  of 
us,  especially  as  no  harm  came  of  them,  owing  to 
the  fortunate  circumstance  of  our  being  convinced 
of  one  another's  incompetence,  if  not  each  of  his 
own.  Nobody  believed  a  word  of  what  anybody 
else  had  to  say  about  soils  and  such  like. 

But  one  thing  we  did  know,  and  know  well,  and 
that  was  the  hunger  of  city  people  after  the  greens 
which  farmers  raise,  and  our  discussions  were 
practical  at  least  in  that  we  developed  the  signifi- 
cance of  this,  as  it  was  related  to  our  venture,  and 
agreed  to  make  the  most  of  it.  We  fancied,  and  not 
without  reason,  as  it  turned  out,  that  we  should  have 
a  certain  advantage  over  ordinary  farmers,  through 
having  learned  by  experience  the  likes  and  dislikes 
of  the  people  who  consume  the  products  of  the  land. 
Why  was  it,  we  asked  ourselves,  that  the  veget- 
ables sold  in  the  city,  or  at  any  rate  the  vegetables 


124  ^  Lord  of  Lands. 

sold  to  the  poor,  were  stale,  flat  and  unprofitable, 
as  somebody  has  said  of  something  else,  devoid  of 
sap  and  zest,  virtually  dead  and  kept  in  an  edible 
condition  only  by  a  species  of  embalmment?  Why 
was  it  not  possible  to  deliver  vegetables  direct  to  the 
consumer,  without  the  intervention  of  the  commis- 
sion man  with  his  ghastly  cold  room,  and  the  grocer 
with  his  only  less  ghastly  sprinkler?  We  decided 
that  it  was  possible,  and  that  we  were  just  the 
fellows  to  bring  it  to  pass.  And  with  that,  we  came 
to  a  definite  condition  with  regard  to  our  land, 
namely,  it  must  be  located  within  striking  distance 
of  some  considerable  city,  that  is,  such  a  distance 
as  might  be  covered,  going  and  coming,  at  a  foot 
pace,  with  a  moderate  load,  in  a  day's  time.  Myself 
and  two  others  were  chosen  a  committee  to  go  and 
close  up  the  business  with  Jones  Baring,  and  our 
only  real  instructions  were  to  have  the  land  with- 
in twenty  miles  of  a  city,  somewhere.  We  were 
warned  and  exhorted  endlessly,  on  every  imaginable 
head,  but  withal  so  vaguely  as  to  feel  in  nowise 
guided,  except  as  I  say. 

Jones  Baring  received  us  most  graciously  and 
took  us  himself  to  a  distant  part  of  the  building  and 
there  introduced  us  to  the  land  agent  of  the  com- 
pany, in  terms  which  left  us  in  no  doubt  that  we  were 
to  get  the  best  there  was  in  the  shop.  It  made  my 
associates  stare  and  gasp,  and  indeed  I  doubt  if  they 
rightly  knew  where  they  were  after  that  moment. 
The  land  agent  was  as  affable  as  possible,  and  pulled 
down  maps  and  opened  books  and  sent  his  clerks 
scurrying  this  way  and  that  after  information,  until 


A   Lord  of  Lands.  125 

I  began  to  feel  a  bit  dizzy,  myself,  over  our  im- 
portance. 

In  saying  that  we  came  with  but  one  definite 
condition  in  mind,  I  should  remind  you  that  we  had 
calculated,  all  along,  on  paying  no  more  than  ten 
dollars  an  acre  for  our  land.  This,  in  strictness, 
constituted  another  condition,  which  prudence 
obliged  us  to  insist  on.  Otherwise,  we  were  pre- 
pared to  take  whatever  we  were  offered,  but  now,  at 
once,  uncertainties  began  to  arise. 

"  What,"  said  the  agent,  as  he  rummaged  about 
his  papers,  "is  your  idea  of  a  city?  We  have  all 
sorts  of  cities  on  our  lines.  We  have  a  few  with 
more  than  a  hundred  thousand  people  in  them,  we 
have  others  with  ten  thousand,  and  still  others  with 
a  thousand.  Of  course  you  understand  that  the 
larger  the  city,  the  further  away  from  it  you  will 
have  to  go  before  you  come  upon  land  which  can 
be  bought  for  ten  dollars  an  acre." 

Of  course,  as  he  said,  we  understood  it,  now  that 
he  spoke  of  it,  but  never  hitherto.  I  looked  at  the 
other  members  of  the  committee  and  they  looked  at 
me,  and  I  perceived  that  if  any  definite  answer 
were  made,  I  had  it  to  make. 

"  Well,"  I  said,  casting  about  in  my  mind  uncer- 
tainly, "  I  suppose  for  our  purpose  a  city  is  a  place 
so  large  that  the  people  in  it  cannot  afford  to  have 
gardens  of  their  own,  and  must  buy  all  their  truck." 

I  doubt  if  the  agent  was  much  enlightened  by 
this,  but  he  nodded,  and  did  not  press  the  point 
further. 

''And  then,"  he  went  on,  after  a  little,   "how 


126  A  Lord  of  Lands. 

about  the  soil?  If  you  insist  on  a  heavy  soil,  you 
will  have  to  go  further  away  from  your  city  than 
if  you  are  content  with  a  light  soil.  The  heavy 
soil  is  taken  first,  and  by  the  time  a  city  has  grown 
up,  there  is  none  of  it  left,  for  miles  in  every 
direction,  except  at  a  fancy  price." 

My  colleagues  looked  blanker  than  ever.  We  all 
reahzed  that  we  were  getting  into  deep  water,  for 
however  confidently  we  might  have  discussed  soils, 
with  one  another,  now  that  we  had  the  choice  to 
make,  we  were  far  enough  from  feeling  secure  of 
our  footing.  I  thought  of  beating  about  the  bush 
a  little,  by  way  of  gaining  time.  (Elizabeth  warns 
me  that  I  am  mixing  my  metaphors,  here,  and  I 
daresay  I  am,  not  being  used  to  handling  the  things, 
and  accordingly  I  plead  guilty  and  throw  myself 
on  the  mercy  of  the  court.) 

"  I  have  read  somewhere,"  said  I,  "  that  the 
success  of  farming  depends  more  on  the  character 
of  the  man  than  on  the  character  of  the  soil." 

The  agent  smiled,  at  this,  in  such  a  way  as 
encouraged  me  to  think  I  had  said  something  pretty 
good,  although  by  accident. 

"  If  we  can't  have  both,"  said  he,  "  by  all  means 
give  us  the  strong  man  rather  than  the  strong  soil. 
But  the  two  together  make  an  excellent  team." 

It  was  no  easy  position  I  found  myself  in.  Here 
I  was,  making  decisions,  with  nothing  to  guide  me 
in  my  dense  ignorance  except  luck  and  a  certain 
general  instinct  of  shrewdness,  yet  aware  all  the 
while  that  matters  of  vital  consequence  were  in- 
volved.    I  might  have  asked   for  more  time  and 


A  Lord  of  Lands.  127 

gone  back  to  the  others  for  their  sense,  which  course 
would  have  been  more  democratical  and  proper, 
by  right,  to  say  nothing  of  its  reheving  me  of  the 
responsibihty.  But  as  against  such  a  course,  there 
was  the  hkehhood  of  its  proving  ineffectual.  I 
knew  only  too  well  how  little  chance  there  was  of 
ever  coming  to  a  decision,  by  general  agreement. 
Where  several  men  try  to  agree  about  something 
which  none  of  them  well  understands,  it  is  seldom 
they  make  out  much.  Every  man  would  have  his 
opinion,  and  no  good  reason  to  doubt  that  it  was 
as  good  as  another's,  and  so  he  would  stick  by  it, 
and  we  should  come  off  happily  if  friction  and 
bad  feeling  were  not  engendered,  with  no  de- 
cision after  all.  In  the  short  moment  I  had 
for  reflection,  it  seemed  clear  to  me  that  I  should 
take  the  hazard,  though  I  well  understood  how 
great  it  was,  and  settle  the  matter  then  and  there, 
as  the  dazed  and  helpless  condition  of  the  rest  of 
the  committee  permitted  me  to  do.  It  was  no  time 
to  be  standing  on  the  nice  definitions  of  authority. 
The  situation  had  been  given  into  my  hands,  and  I 
accepted  the  trust. 

"  Give  us,"  said  I,  therefore,  with  hardly  more 
leading  than  the  spur  of  the  moment,  "  give  us, 
if  you  please,  a  section  of  land  which  is  all  land, 
without  surface  water  or  useless  bog,  and  have  it 
as  near  a  city  as  possible,  at  the  price  we  specify. 
These  are  the  main  considerations.  As  for  the 
soil,  any  soil  where  nature  raises  a  strong  turf  ought 
to  do  us  very  well." 

It  was  an  old  saying  which  I  quoted.     I  have  a 


128  A  Lord  of  Lands. 

notion  it  came  out  of  Ireland,  originally,  but  as 
to  that  I  have  forgotten.  All  I  know  is  that  it 
popped  into  my  mind  as  I  spoke,  poked  out  of  the 
mass  of  rubbish  in  my  memory,  as  it  were  by  the 
occasion.  It  is  a  meritorious  saying,  as  I  have  since 
learned.  Wherever  a  good  turf  grows,  man  may 
plant  in  reasonable  confidence  that  he  will  reap. 

But  we  had  not  come  to  the  end  of  our  per- 
plexities, even  yet. 

"What  about  trees?"  said  the  agent.  *' We 
have  land  variously  wooded,  timber  land,  oak  open- 
ings, and  prairie.  I  suppose  we  have  more  of  the 
latter  than  anything  else." 

I  pictured  to  myself,  even  as  he  was  speaking, 
the  gloom  of  the  dense  forest,  and  the  dreary 
flatness  of  the  prairie,  and  then  I  wondered  about 
the  oak  openings.  I  asked  the  agent  if  these  might 
be  something  in  the  nature  of  a  mean  between  the 
other  two,  and  he  replied  that  they  were,  as  he  was 
informed;  rolling  ground,  with  moderate  hills  and 
valleys,  scattered  over  with  groves  of  small  trees. 

"  Why,  then,  the  oak  openings,  for  my  part,"  I 
said,  turning  with  an  inquiring  glance  to  my  col- 
leagues, who  nodded,  in  a  bewildered  way. 

I  suspect  that  we  owe  more  to  the  discernment  of 
the  agent  than  we  thought,  at  the  time.  He  made 
out  to  gather,  from  our  stumbling  replies,  about 
what  we  needed,  though  we  did  not  well  know 
ourselves,  and  went  on  to  provide  us  accordingly. 
After  some  more  looking  into  books  and  tracing  out 
of  maps,  he  announced  that  he  had  found  a  parcel 
of  land  which  would  suit  us,  in  all  probability,  but 


A  Lord  of  Lands.  i^^ 

in  order  to  make  quite  sure,  he  would  like  to  have 
time  to  write  to  the  nearest  station-master  for  more 
exact  information  than  he  had  at  hand.  Would  we 
kindly  call  again,  in  about  a  week  or  ten  days? 

We  would,  and  we  did,  and  thereupon,  all  being 
well,  we  straightway  closed  the  deal  and  signed  the 
preliminary  contracts.  This  last,  I  should  add,  was 
not  brought  about  without  the  exercise  of  a  degree 
of  overbearingness  on  my  part,  for  my  colleagues  of 
the  committee  were  shy  of  putting  their  names,  in 
ink,  to  a  document  the  force  and  purport  of  which 
they  did  not  fully  understand.  They  were  afraid 
of  what  might  come  of  it,  and  drew  back.  It  was 
only  another  manifestation  of  the  narrowness  of 
view  into  which  our  manner  of  life  had  got  us. 
Prudence  is  all  right,  and  a  valuable  trait,  in  its 
place  and  time,  but  risks  have  got  to  be  run,  and 
credit  has  got  to  be  given  to  the  fair  intentions  of 
others,  even  though  the  proof  of  them  is  somewhat 
lacking,  or  else  business  will  never  get  forward.  I 
saw  how  it  was  with  my  friends,  and  I  am  not 
denying  it  was  a  good  deal  so  with  me,  though  I 
did  not  let  it  appear,  and  we  asked  for  a  few  minutes 
in  which  to  consult,  and  these  being  given,  we  went 
out  into  the  street  and  had  an  earnest  talk,  by  which 
we  made  out  to  get  ourselves  persuaded.  Of  course 
it  would  have  been  downright  stupid  in  us  to  have 
refused  our  faith  to  the  men  who  had  given  their 
faith  so  markedly  to  us,  but  if  you  are  a  poor  man, 
you  will  understand  how  the  case  stood.  It  was  a 
hard  matter  for  us  to  sign  those  papers,  and  though 
we  set  our  names  down  with  an  assumption  of 
9 


130  A  Lord  of  Lands. 

cheerfulness,  we  had  still  our  misgivings,  all  the 
more  oppressive  for  being  utterly  vague  and  intan- 
gible. Shrewd  business  men  have  learned  to  rely  on 
a  degree  of  common  honesty,  but  we  poor,  with  all 
our  hard  knocks,  rise  but  hardly  to  their  confidence. 
I  will  say  at  once,  since  I  may  not  get  a  better 
chance,  that  we  made  out  excellently  well,  in  the 
choice  of  our  land,  whether  it  be  due  to  the  interest 
of  the  agent,  or  to  the  intercession  of  that  special 
providence  which  is  said  to  watch  over  the  weak 
and  foolish.  I  can  truthfully  say,  to-day,  with  all 
the  knowledge  of  farming  I  have  gained,  that  a 
more  suitable  tract  would  be  hard  to  find.  We  are 
within  sixteen  miles  of  a  city  which  had  some 
seventy  thousand  people  when  we  came,  and  has 
twice  as  many  now.  The  nearest  railway  station 
is  only  three  miles  away,  and  while  we  found  no- 
body there,  at  first,  a  fine  little  village  has  since 
sprung  up,  where  we  have  a  market  for  not  a  little 
of  our  produce,  and  what  is  most  important,  the  best 
facilities  for  shipping  abroad.  Here,  for  instance, 
w^e  take  our  cream,  and  consign  it  by  express  to  a 
great  confectioner  in  the  city,  and  have  no  more 
to  do  about  it  except  to  endorse  the  check  which 
comes  back  by  the  next  mail  and  turn  it  into 
the  village  bank.  In  these  blessed  days  farmers 
and  their  wives  have  no  need  to  know  how  to  make 
butter  and  cheese  in  order  to  carry  on  a  dairy  to 
the  best  advantage,  and  what  that  means  only  they 
know  who  have  seen  something  of  the  drudgery 
of  the  old  way,  and  of  the  uncertainty  of  results, 
with  all  the  drudgery. 


A  Lord  of  Lands.  131 

There  comes  to  me  more  and  more,  as  I  write, 
the  thought  that  a  farmer  is  in  some  degree  made 
over  by  his  farm.  When  I  consider  how  wonder- 
fully suitable  my  own  farm  seems  to  me  now,  I 
have  to  ask  myself  if  this  may  not  arise  chiefly  from 
my  having  adapted  myself,  or  been  adapted,  to  it, 
and  the  practical  bearing  of  the  thought  lies  in  the 
further  question  whether  the  availabihty  of  land  is 
something  to  be  discovered  beforehand,  by  minute 
scrutiny,  or  something  to  be  developed  and  produced 
by  faithful  application.  It  is  a  comfort  to  believe 
that  in  farming  less  depends  upon  the  exterior 
circumstances  which  you  cannot  control,  than  in 
almost  any  other  line  of  human  endeavor. 

But  I  run  ahead  of  my  story. 

When  we  had  got  the  papers  signed,  sealed  and 
delivered,  and  everything  done  that  could  be  done 
for  the  present,  we  all  went  back  to  work,  with 
stout  hearts  and  good  hope,  and  kept  pegging  away 
at  the  old  jobs  till  the  first  day  of  March.  During 
the  two  months  and  upwards  intervening,  we  set 
ourselves  to  practise  the  most  rigid  economy,  sav- 
ing to  the  uttermost,  paring  expenses  down  to  the 
very  limit  of  safety,  and  it  was  a  surprising  thing, 
in  view  of  our  habitual  parsimony,  as  we  thought  it, 
how  many  odd  pennies  we  managed  to  hold,  under 
the  stimulation  of  our  new  purpose,  whereas  hitherto 
everything  had  slipped  through  our  fingers  with- 
out leaving  as  much  as  a  tickling  behind.  We  made 
out  thus  to  amass  a  slender  little  fund,  some  more 
and  some  less,  none  much,  but  all  enough  to  serve, 
and  this  was  what  the  women  and  children  were  to 


13^  A  Lord  of  Lands. 

live  on,  while  we  men  fared  forth  to  make  ready  out 
new  homes.  Perhaps  we  went  to  unnecessary 
trouble,  but  I  think  not.  We  might  have  dipped 
into  our  loan,  I  daresay,  but  we  decided  that  we 
would  much  rather  not,  and  if  we  were  not  right  as 
a  matter  of  business  economy,  I  am  convinced  we 
lost  nothing  by  the  discipline  we  subjected  ourselves 
to.  Our  moral  muscles  were  the  better  for  the 
exercise. 

On  the  first  day  of  March  we  cast  the  die  and 
crossed  the  Rubicon.  We  quit  our  old  jobs  for 
good  and  all,  and  that  was  like  burning  our  bridges 
behind  us,  and  called  for  more  grit  than  every- 
body will  imagine,  more  than  any  of  us  could  easily 
summon  up.  But  as  in  the  case  of  tooth-puUing, 
where  the  agony  is  all  crowded  into  the  bare  instant 
when  the  nerve  separates,  so  we  rallied  promptly 
once  we  were  off,  for  the  West,  and  after  that  the 
excitement  of  novelty  kept  us  occupied.  It  was  a 
grand  trip  for  us,  full  of  the  most  stimulating  and 
broadening  experiences.  We  drew  not  a  little  atten- 
tion to  ourselves,  what  with  being  sixteen  stalwart, 
sound,  clean  men  in  a  party,  and  we  were  being 
made  of  by  somebody  or  other  all  the  way,  not 
with  lavish  entertainment,  of  course,  but  with  a 
show  of  kindly  interest,  worth  at  least  as  much. 
We  came  to  the  city  which  lay  near  our  new  home 
in  fine  trim,  thoroughly  refreshed  in  body  and  spirit 
by  the  few  days  of  travel,  as  full  of  ginger  and  as 
anxious  to  get  at  the  great  things  before  us  as  men 
could  well  be. 

Here    we   were   to   purchase   our   material   and 


A   Lord  of  Lands.  133 

supplies.  Jones  Baring  had  the  financial  arrange- 
ments all  made,  through  the  company's  local  lawyer, 
to  whom  I  bore  a  letter  of  introduction.  His  name 
was  Beverly,  and  a  crusty  old  fellow  he  seemed,  at 
first,  though  he  turned  out  to  be  one  of  the  kindest, 
as  well  as  one  of  the  wisest  of  men.  Beverly  had 
orders  to  pay  our  bills  up  to  a  certain  amount,  and 
for  certain  specified  purchases  (this  provision,  I 
well  understood,  was  to  guard  against  the  chance  of 
our  losing  our  heads  and  spending  the  money  for 
frippery,  and  while  it  might  be  unnecessary,  could 
not  be  blamed)  and  to  afford  us  every  assistance  in 
the  way  of  counsel. 

For  a  day  or  so,  our  carpenters  were  the  most 
important  persons  of  our  party.  They  scurried 
about  from  early  morning  till  late  at  night,  each  of 
them  attended  by  two  or  three  of  the  rest  of  us  as 
lackeys  to  save  him  work  wherever  it  was  possible, 
until  they  had  visited  every  last  lumber-yard  in 
the  place,  and  compared  prices,  and  scrutinized  the 
stock,  and  otherwise  put  themselves  in  a  way  to 
buy  advantageously.  They  drove  a  bargain  at  last 
which  made  Beverly  chuckle  when  he  paid  the  shot, 
and  wore  off  a  great  part  of  his  crustiness.  The 
lumber-dealers,  when  they  found  out  what  a  great 
lot  of  lumber  we  wanted,  I  forget  how  many  thou- 
sand feet  in  all,  fell  on  one  another,  figuratively 
speaking,  with  knives,  and,  in  the  heat  of  rivalry, 
slashed  one  another's  prices  most  agreeably.  When 
it  came  to  delivering  the  goods,  the  man  of  whom 
we  finally  bought,  having  cooled  somewhat,  to  the 
point  of  being  no  longer  forgetful  of  his  own  wel- 


134  A  Lord  of  Lands. 

fare,  undertook  to  fill  the  order  with  inferior  stuff, 
but  our  men  were  watching  him  and  he  had  to  give 
it  up.  They  inspected  every  stick  and  splinter  as  it 
was  loaded  on  the  cars,  and  with  their  trained  eyes, 
it  was  impossible  to  fool  them. 

Meanwhile,  our  teamsters  had  been  acquitting 
themselves  of  their  part.  They  too  were  making 
use  of  their  technical  skill  for  the  common  good. 
They  had  a  pretty  definite  idea  where  good  horses 
were  to  be  got  cheap,  and  they  drove  a  bargain  which 
pleased  Beverly  hardly  less  than  the  other.  Indeed, 
after  he  had  paid  for  the  horses  and  the  lumber,  his 
manner  took  on  a  sort  of  glow,  as  often  as  we  came 
near  him,  as  if  he  thought  we  had  done  some  great 
thing,  and  if  we  taught  him  that  there  is  more  thrift, 
and  enterprise,  and  shrewdness  among  the  poor 
than  he  had  imagined,  I  am  glad.  In  those  days 
the  street  cars  were  still  being  drawn  by  horses,  and 
it  was  wearing  on  them.  But  beasts  w^hich  could 
no  longer  drag  a  heavy  car  at  a  trot  over  rough 
pavement  had  often  much  good  in  them,  for  less 
exacting  service,  especially  as  they  were  always 
good  horses  to  begin  with.  Moreover,  there  were 
the  condemned  horses  of  the  fire  department,  splen- 
did fellows,  and  but  slightly  disabled.  We  bought 
two  teams  of  the  street  car  company  and  one  of  the 
fire  department,  and  all  these,  together  with  neces- 
sary harness,  cost  us  less  than  two  hundred  dollars. 
They  were  tolerably  young  yet,  heavily  built,  healthy 
and  sound  except  for  being  foundered  in  the  shoul- 
ders. They  would  go  lame  if  hurried,  but  at  a  walk 
they  were  as  good  as  they  had  ever  been,  which  was 


A  Lord  of  Lands.  135 

very  good  indeed.  The  two  fire  horses,  especially, 
made  us  proud  when  we  looked  upon  them,  they  held 
their  heads  up  so  spiritedly,  and  looked  out  so  saga- 
ciously and  generously.  But  they  had  to  be  handled 
with  great  care,  for  they  never,  with  all  their  wis- 
dom rose  to  a  clear  understanding  of  the  wrongful- 
ness of  running  away,  having  been  schooled,  in 
their  earlier  years,  to  the  belief  that  the  merit 
of  performance  lay  in  the  promptitude  of  it. 
On  the  very  slightest  occasion,  or  no  occasion  at  all, 
if  they  felt  uncommonly  good,  they  would  take  it 
in  their  heads  that  there  was  a  fire  somewhere,  and 
then  we  had  to  look  out  or  they  were  up  and  away 
at  top  speed. 

Our  teamsters  knew  a  good  wagon  when  they 
saw  it,  too,  going  at  once  to  the  substance  and 
making  nothing  of  the  paint  and  polish  which  to  the 
inexpert  are  only  too  apt  to  spell  worth.  They 
discovered  three  old  wagons  which  had  plenty  of 
wear  in  them  yet,  but  were  going  begging  for  lack 
of  the  outward  gloss  of  newness,  and  these  they 
bought  for  a  song.  Some  of  the  rest  of  us,  more 
moderately  gifted  with  special  knowledge,  had  at- 
tended to  the  purchase  of  staple  supplies,  such  as 
flour,  salt  meat,  beans,  and  a  bit  of  dried  fruit  to 
furnish  a  variety  without  making  it  cost  more  than 
it  was  worth,  and  these  articles,  together  with  two 
second-hand  cook-stoves,  and  the  pots  and  pans 
needful  for  a  rude  cookery,  we  loaded  on  the  wag- 
ons, which  were  to  go  out  by  the  highway.  The 
teamsters  went  with  their  teams,  of  course,  but  the 
rest  of  us  went  with  the  lumber,  partly  in  order  to 


136  A  Lord  of  Lands. 

be  on  the  spot  to  begin  with  the  unloading  as  soon 
as  it  should  arrive,  and  partly  because  of  my  warn- 
ings against  letting  the  consignment  out  of  our  sight, 
lest  it  go  astray.  I  knew  something  of  the  care- 
lessness of  the  crews  of  freight-trains,  in  those 
days. 

I  verily  believe  our  station,  as  it  appeared  on  our 
first  arrival,  was  about  the  loneliest,  dreariest  place 
in  the  world.  The  outlook  there  gave  us  our  first 
setback  since  leaving  home.  There  wasn't  a 
blessed  thing  to  make  a  station  of  it  except  a  rude 
side-track  built  of  broken,  wornout  rails,  not  a 
shelter  of  any  sort,  nor  a  sign  of  human  habitation 
to  be  seen.  This  last  circumstance  was  due  to  a 
blinding  snowstorm  which  had  swooped  down  all 
of  a  sudden,  blotting  out  the  landscape,  with  its 
rolling  fields  and  clusters  of  farm  buildings,  plainly 
visible  in  clear  weather.  We  seemed,  for  the  mo- 
ment, to  have  been  dropped  down  into  a  very  wilder- 
ness, and  I  know  the  hearts  of  all  of  us  sank  to  a 
low  level  when  the  train,  having  cut  our  cars  out 
and  shoved  them  into  the  siding,  rumbled  off  into 
the  bosom  of  the  storm.  Involuntarily  we  stood 
listening  until  we  could  hear  it  no  longer,  as  one 
might  listen  to  the  footfalls  of  a  dear  friend  depart- 
ing forever,  and  then,  as  by  a  common  sense  of  the 
necessities,  we  fell  to  with  prodigious  industry, 
affecting  a  great  heartiness,  while  we  unloaded  the 
lumber,  and  shouted  and  sang  songs  and  capered 
about,  all  with  a  view  to  raising  our  spirits.  We 
made  out  none  too  well,  for  it  was  no  easy  matter. 
The  storm  in  itself  was  a  considerable  trial,  unused 


A  Lord  of  Lands.  137 

as  we  were  to  the  inclemency,  for  while  we  had  met 
with  stormy  weather  enough,  in  our  lives,  such 
weather  as  this  was  new  to  us,  chiefly  by  reason 
of  the  wind  sweeping  so  fiercely  down  upon  us 
across  a  great  expanse  of  open,  flat  country.  The 
snow  was  wet  and  sticky,  and  we  were  soon 
drenched  to  the  skin  with  it,  and  although  the  cold 
was  by  no  means  severe,  it  was  enough  to  benumb 
our  fingers  and  render  them  all  but  useless.  Stew- 
ing thus  in  our  wet  garments,  I  wondered  some,  in 
a  dismal  way,  what  might  not  be  the  effect  of  the 
exposure,  and  thought  how  readily  a  hard  cold 
will  lead  to  something  serious,  and  how  sad  a  plight 
we  should  be  in  if  a  number  of  us  fell  sick. 

To  add  to  our  wretchedness,  the  wagons,  which 
had  started  from  the  city  before  us,  and  had  been 
more  than  five  hours  on  the  road,  were  not  arrived, 
whereas  we  had  confidently  expected  to  find  them 
waiting  for  U3.  We  tried  to  believe  that  they  had 
merely  gone  astray,  or  met  with  some  unforeseen 
delay,  but  more  than  one  of  us,  I  know  by  the 
look  in  their  faces,  harbored  a  most  unjust  and 
monstrous  doubt,  and  asked  themselves  in  their 
hearts  what  was  to  hinder  these  men  from  ab- 
sconding, with  our  common  property.  It  is  not  an 
agreeable  circumstance  to  recall,  I  can  tell  you,  and 
I  speak  of  it  only  to  show  how  low  we  were  in  our 
minds.  Of  course,  there  was  no  shred  of  ground 
for  such  a  suspicion,  but  where  a  man  is  thoroughly 
dejected,  he  will  choose  to  think  the  worst. 

Into  the  midst  of  the  gloom,  which  thickened 
steadily  in  spite  of  our  efforts  to  throw  it  off,  there 


138  A  Lord  of  Lands. 

suddenly  shot  a  rift  of  light,  in  the  form  of  a  man, 
who  drove  up  in  a  Hght  buggy,  looming  out  of  the 
storm  in  a  manner  almost  startling,  like  a  spectral 
apparition.  He  had  a  broad  red  face  with  a  fringe 
of  gray  whiskers,  into  which  the  snow  had  sifted 
in  a  most  comical  fashion,  and  he  was  as  radiant 
with  smiles  as  the  sun  in  June.  Take  him  all  in 
all,  with  the  circumstances,  he  was  about  as  cheer- 
ful a  spectacle  as  could  well  be  imagined,  and  the 
snow  melting  and  running  off  his  ruddy  visage  in 
rivulets  made  it  appear  as  if  nature  even  in  her 
austerest  mood  could  not  overcome  his  genial 
warmth,  or  touch  him  without  yielding  to  the  effects 
of  it.  He  jumped  out  of  his  buggy  briskly  and  be- 
fore we  had  time  to  say  a  word  he  was  shaking 
hands  with  us  all  round. 

''  My  name's  Tucker,"  he  said,  in  a  big,  roaring 
voice,  and  with  the  Yankee  style  of  speech  which  I 
cannot  pretend  to  render  with  more  than  approxi- 
mate accuracy.  ''  Now  I  s'pose  yew'll  be  the  new 
folks  that's  a-movin'  in  ontew  the  railroad  section. 
Well,  by  Heck,  I'm  right  down  glad  to  see  ye. 
Thought  I'd  jest  nachly  run  over  like  an'  see  if  I 
couldn't  somehow  mebbe  be  of  some  'sistance." 

It  was  no  great  thing,  as  I  tell  it,  this  curious 
old  man  dropping  down  among  us,  but  if  he  had 
been  an  angel  with  a  flaming  sword  or  other  equally 
convincing  credentials,  come  to  pledge  us  the 
help  and  protection  of  the  Most  High,  I  doubt  if 
we  should  have  been  much  more  raised  up.  Perhaps 
as  it  had  taken  but  little  to  cast  us  down,  it  needed 
but  little  to  restore  us,  and  perhaps,  too,  our  spirits 


A  Lord  of  Lands.  139 

had  got  to  the  bottom  and  were  on  the  point  of 
reacting  anyway.  But  be  that  as  it  may,  the  fact 
stands.  As  we  shook  hands  with  him,  and  looked 
into  his  warm,  dripping  face,  radiant  with  good 
feehng,  we  had  to  be  glad. 

*'  Now,  hain't  they  suthin'  I  kin  dew  tew  'sist 
ye?"  he  kept  saying,  over  and  over. 

When  we  had  found  our  tongues  a  little,  we  told 
him  that  we  were  somewhat  at  a  loss  through  not 
knowing  just  where  our  land  lay,  further  than  that 
it  was  about  three  miles  to  the  northward  of  the 
station,  and  if  he  would  put  us  in  the  way  of  find- 
ing it,  we  should  be  obliged. 

Tucker  fairly  leaped  with  delight. 

"  Will  I?  "  he  shouted,  with  a  burst  of  boisterous 
laughter.  "  Wull,  I  reckon  I  just  about  will,"  and 
then  he  went  on  to  say  that  he  knew  where  every 
corner  in  the  town  was,  better,  by  Heck,  than  the 
county  surveyor,  even  if  he  was  a  college  graduate, 
which  didn't  save  a  man  from  being  just  naturally 
a  numskull  if  he  was  built  that  way,  not  by  a  jug- 
ful. From  this  he  drifted  to  other  topics,  all  in  the 
freest  and  easiest  way,  with  every  evidence  of  can- 
dor, and  as  we  warmed  under  the  spell  of  his 
warmth,  we  became  communicative  on  our  part.  It 
was  not  long  until  we  had  told  him  about  our 
wagons,  and  our  uneasiness  concerning  them. 

"  Wull,  now,  by  Heck,  don't  ye  pester !  "  cried 
the  old  man.  "  'Tain't  no  wonder  they  hain't  come, 
with  the  roads  the  way  they  be.  The  roads  is  jest 
nachly  dod-gasted  mis'ble,  this  spring,  wust  I  ever 
see.     It  don't  noways  matter,  anyhow,     I've  got 


140  A   Lord  of  Lands. 

itwo  teams  in  my  barn  hain't  done  nuthin'  all  winter 
but  eat  their  heads  off.  They're  spilin'  fer  suthin' 
tew  dew,  an'  by  the  jumped-up  John  Rogers,  I'll 
jest  nachly  go  fetch  'em,  an'  'sist  ye  with  yer  lum- 
ber." 

Now  we  were  that  unaccustomed  to  being  served 
in  any  way  without  money  and  without  price  that  we 
made  the  mistake  of  supposing  that  Tucker  would 
have  to  be  paid,  if  he  came  with  his  teams.  We 
hemmed  and  hawed  some,  feeling  the  awkwardness 
of  expressing  ourselves,  but  finally  out  with  it  that 
we  could  not  afford  to  hire  any  help.  At  this 
Tucker  roared  his  loudest,  in  protest. 

'*Hire?"  he  snorted,  disdainfully.  "Hire  noth- 
in'!  'Twon't  cost  ye  a  red,  nary  a  red.  'Tain't 
nothin'  more'n  a  neighborly  turn,  nohow,  an'  I 
guess  I  hain't  a-goin'  to  ask  no  pay  for  a  neighborly 
turn.     No,  sirree !  " 

Saying  which,  he  jumped  back  into  his  buggy 
and  vanished,  the  way  he  came,  leaving  us  vastly 
heartened,  as  I  say,  but  something  mystified,  withal. 
It  was  our  first  contact  with  neighborliness  in  its 
bland,  rural  aspect,  and  we  could  hardly  take  it  at 
its  value.     It  seemed  too  beautiful  to  be  human. 

While  we  speculated  over  Tucker,  and  his  mo- 
tives, our  own  wagons  came  up,  wet  and  muddy,  the 
horses  about  worn  out,  and  the  men  looking  any- 
thing but  cheerful.  They  were  accompanied  by  a 
farmer  who  had  come  along  with  them  to  show  the 
way.  They  had  overtaken  him  driving  out  from 
the  city,  and  he  proved  to  be  a  near  neighbor  of 
ours.     That  being  discovered,  no  more  was  needed 


A   Lord  of  Lands.  141 

to  fire  him  with  a  friendly  concern  for  us.  His 
name  was  Baldwin,  and  he  was  another  Yankee,  as 
his  speech  at  once  revealed. 

"When  I  heered  how  ye  was  comin'  in  here 
puffik  strangers,  an'  new  to  farmin',  an'  the  weather 
so  onery  like,"  said  he,  ''  by  Gorry,  if  I  didn't  say 
to  myself  I'll  jest  go  'long  an'  mebbe  I  kin  be  of 
some  'sistance.  Jest  a  neighborly  turn,  ye  know," 
he  added,  as  if  he  divined  that  we  might  think  we 
had  his  services  to  pay  for.  He  was  not  much  like 
Tucker,  either  in  person  or  manner,  being  smaller 
and  quieter,  and  more  sallow  than  red,  and  rather 
lean,  but  he  had  quite  the  same  marvelous  enchant- 
ment upon  him,  as  it  appeared  to  us,  accustomed  to 
urban  neighborliness. 

And  now,  to  make  our  felicity  complete,  the  sun 
burst  out  and  the  storm  fled,  as  suddenly  as  it  had 
come,  with  a  final  howl  of  baffled  spite,  and  the  air 
turned  as  soft  as  you  could  wish.  Such  is  the 
temper  of  March,  the  fiercest  and  the  ficklest  of 
months.  But  it  was  a  blessed  March  we  had  that 
year,  for  all  the  bad  beginning.  All  through  it  was 
like  May  out  of  place.  May,  in  her  turn,  I  should 
add,  was  much  what  March  ordinarily  is,  to  pay  us 
back.  If  you  will  believe  me,  I  planted  corn  that 
first  year  with  mittens  on  my  hands,  and  I  was  none 
too  warm  at  that.  But  this  freakish  ordering  of  the 
weather  suited  us  admirably.  In  May  we  were 
ready  for  anything,  whereas  a  blustering  March 
would  have  been  sorely  against  us. 

The  work  had  lagged,  some,  in  the  sourness  and 
gloom,  but  now  it  went  on  merrily  enough.     We 


142  A  Lord  of  Lands. 

dried  off  as  if  by  magic,  and  instead  of  the  doleful, 
stewing  stickiness,  we  were  in  a  delightful  glow  all 
over,  the  effect  of  the  air  being  suddenly  cleansed 
of  its  oppressive  vapors.  Our  climate  gives  us 
discomfort  enough,  but  its  compensations  are  gener- 
ous and  satisfying.  A  single  day  of  fine  weather 
is  enough  to  make  us  forgive  and  forget  a  dozen 
wretched  days,  the  fine  day  is  so  extremely  fine,  with 
a  balmy  crispness  which  we  fondly  believe  is  not  to 
be  found  elsewhere,  in  such  degree.  You  may  think 
me  flippant,  but  our  weather  puts  me  very  much 
in  mind  of  the  little  girl  in  the  children's  jingle, 
who  had  the  little  curl  in  the  middle  of  her  fore- 
head, and  who,  when  she  was  good,  was  very,  very 
good,  whereas  when  she  was  bad  she  was  horrid. 

It  was  only  a  jiffy  or  such  a  matter  until  we  had 
the  lumber  off  the  cars,  and  the  four  wagons,  that 
is,  our  three  and  Baldwin's  one,  loaded  with  as 
much  of  it  as  the  horses  could  pull.  Just  as  we 
were  laying  on  the  last  sticks,  Tucker  came  up  with 
his  two  wagons,  and  we  loaded  them  likewise,  in 
a  brisk  mood,  laughing  all  the  time,  partly  because 
of  the  old  man's  quaint  quips  and  sallies,  but  chiefiy, 
I  think,  because  nothing  but  laughter  would  ex- 
press our  feelings,  now.  We  were  ready  to  laugh 
at  everything  which  offered,  and  if  nothing  offered, 
then  at  nothing  at  all.  We  made  a  brave  show, 
when  we  started  off  at  last,  with  our  six  towering 
loads,  and  the  dozen  of  us  on  foot  bringing  up  the 
rear.  We  passed  two  farms  on  the  way,  and  the 
people  all  came  out  to  the  roadside,  and  stared  at  us 
very  hard,  but  always  in  the  friendliest  spirit,  and 


A  Lord  of  Lands.  143 

at  both  places  the  man  of  the  house  walked  along 
with  us  a  little  way,  and  shook  hands,  and  asked 
many  questions,  which,  although  they  were  rather 
pointed,  not  to  say  impertinent,  we  knew  to  be  well 
meant,  and  answered  freely  and  frankly  and  lost 
nothing  by  it.  We  were  beginning  to  understand 
that  we  had  come  into  a  different  world,  where  peo- 
ple cared  more  about  one  another  and  had  by  that 
a  better  right  to  know  one  another's  affairs.  These 
two  men  urged  us,  again  and  again,  to  call  on  them 
if  they  could  be  of  any  assistance  whatever.  It 
seemed  to  me  that  I  had  never  heard  that  word  as- 
sistance (they  miostly  called  it  'sistance,  and  although 
I  am  for  upholding  the  purity  of  the  language,  I 
confess  I  like  it  better  that  way,  as  being  more 
homely  and  hearty)  spoken  so  often  in  so  short  a 
time,  and  certainly  never  with  such  a  ring  of 
sincerity.  But  there  was  always  this  singularity 
about  the  manner  of  Tucker  and  Baldwin,  that  while 
they  fairly  overflowed  with  neighborliness  for  us, 
they  seemed  to  have  very  little  of  it  for  each  other. 
My  impression  at  the  time  was  that  never  a  word 
passed  between  them,  and  I  was  right  in  it,  as  I 
found  out  afterwards. 

Virgin  land  has  always  a  rough,  ragged  look, 
unless  it  be  prairie,  and  a  general  air  of  worthless- 
ness  except  to  the  practised  eye.  When  first  we 
set  foot  on  our  estate  I  think  we  all  experienced  a 
shock  of  disappointment.  I  know  I  did.  The  trees 
were  mostly  of  the  sort  called  black  oak,  now 
pretty  much  extinct,  not  unhandsome  if  kept 
pruned,  but  if  left  to  themselves  acquiring  a  dis- 


144  A   Lord  of  Lands. 

reputable  fringe  of  dead  branches  which  is  quite 
enough  to  spoil  their  looks,  although  the  foliage  is 
a  most  beautiful  deep  green  which  turns  to  such 
gorgeous  reds  and  yellows  with  the  touch  of  frost 
as  you  cannot  imagine.  All  about  these  there  grew 
dense  masses  of  hazel  and  brier,  and  just  now,  in  the 
early  spring,  there  were  the  dead  vines  and  weeds  of 
yesteryear  hanging  dismally.  The  thicket  was  the 
mark  of  a  good  soil,  as  I  ought  to  have  known, 
but  none  the  less  I  was  depressed  by  the  aspect  of 
it,  I  daresay  because  it  was  so  different  from  what  I 
had  expected.  What  the  land  agent  had  told  us 
about  oak  openings  had  somehow  left  in  my  mind  a 
picture  of  sweeping  lawns  with  velvety  grass. 

But  of  the  surest  solace  in  every  trial,  namely, 
work,  there  was  a  great  plenty  at  hand,  and  right 
lustily  we  laid  our  hands  to  it.  We  unloaded  the 
wagons  and  sent  them  back,  with  men  enough  to 
make  easy  the  handling  of  the  wet,  sodden  sticks. 
The  carpenters,  whose  chests  we  had  jealously  kept 
with  us  all  the  way,  in  anticipation  of  the  present 
use  for  them,  went  instantly  about  the  business  of 
framing  the  timbers,  marking  out  the  patterns, 
while  others  of  us  wielded  the  saw  and  broadax,  to 
save  them  the  heavier  labor.  The  three  or  four  who 
were  left  went  out  with  Tucker  and  Baldwin,  who 
knew  the  corners,  and  laid  out  the  building  plots 
according  to  the  maps  which  Jones  Baring  had  had 
his  surveyors  draw  for  us,  with  all  the  measure- 
ments set  down  accurately,  and  each  man's  name 
appended  to  the  plot  which  had  fallen  to  him  by 
lot.     That  is  to  say,  our  medicine,  as  I  may  term 


A  Lord  of  Lands.  145 

it,  was  ready  mixed  for  us,  in  advance,  and  we  had 
nothing  to  do  but  take  it.  There  was  no  room 
for  bickering.  Not  everybody  was  suited  with  the 
outcome,  but  nobody  could  with  good  face  com- 
plain. I  felt  not  a  little  put  out,  myself,  when  I  saw, 
or  thought  I  saw,  that  my  plot  was  quite  the  worst 
of  all,  high  and  sandy  at  one  end  and  low  and  sedgy 
at  the  other,  with  no  great  amount  of  right  good 
land  between,  but  it  was  something  to  reflect  that 
my  misfortune,  as  I  called  it  then,  gave  me  the 
opportunity  to  set  an  example  of  cheerful  resigna- 
tion, which  I  proceeded  to  do,  with  all  the  frills. 
Of  course  it  was  no  misfortune  at  all.  When  I  had 
become  acquainted  with  my  land,  learned  its  moods 
and  whims,  so  to  speak,  and  adapted  myself  to  it, 
by  that  process  which  I  have  already  spoken  of  and 
which  every  good  farmer  knows  the  effect  of,  I 
would  not  have  any  other.  The  very  poorest  of  it, 
high  and  dry  and  so  thin  that  a  dog  digging  for 
a  gopher  would  bring  up  the  white  gravel,  this 
served  admirably,  with  its  perfect  drainage,  for  a 
building  spot.  It  is  something  to  be  able  to  throw 
out  the  great  quantities  of  water  a  housekeeper  has 
to  dispose  of,  with  the  feeling  that  it  will  take  care 
of  itself,  in  the  twinkling  of  an  eye,  and  not  stand 
and  fester  in  the  sun,  to  pollute  the  air  and  offend 
the  senses.  Our  plot  is  fortunate,  too,  in  sloping 
toward  the  north,  though  that  circumstance  gave 
it  a  bleakness  to  my  unknowing  eye,  for  by  this  it 
is  especially  adapted  to  the  culture  of  fruits,  sav- 
ing them  from  being  pushed  too  soon  into  bloom  by 
the  direct  rays  of  the  spring  sun. 
10 


146  A  Lord  of  Lands. 

Many  hands  make  light  work,  saith  the  proverb, 
and  the  dihgent  hand  maketh  the  task  light,  too, 
and  those  houses  went  up  as  by  magic.  There  was 
such  a  confusion  of  hammering  and  sawing  there 
during  the  space  of  a  month  that  people  came  out 
for  to  see  from  miles  away,  and  not  only  that,  but  to 
help  as  the  chance  offered,  if  it  was  no  more  than 
to  lend  a  hand  with  the  raising  of  a  frame.  It  was 
the  best  possible  way  of  getting  acquainted,  with 
the  work  in  hand  affording  the  most  acceptable 
material  for  conversation,  and  after  the  men  had 
come  over  and  broken  the  ice,  the  women  followed, 
and  the  children,  all  consumed  with  curiosity,  to  be 
sure,  but  friendly  to  the  last  degree.  Thus  we  were 
making  ourselves  homes  in  a  double  sense,  prepar- 
ing the  bodily  habitations,  and  at  the  same  time 
knitting  up  those  ties  of  neighborly  interest  which 
are  scarcely  less  important.  You  will  easily  believe 
that  after  the  first  day's  trials  and  disappointments 
and  disillusionments,  we  had  no  further  occasion 
for  getting  down  in  the  mouth,  what  with  our  work 
crowding  us  all  the  time,  and  the  hospitality  which 
was  being  showered  upon  us  from  every  side,  like 
the  sweet  dew  of  heaven.  Such  real  hospitality  it 
seemed  to  me  there  never  was,  outside  the  story- 
books (I  shall  have  to  except  Tucker  and  Baldwin 
somewhat,  I  fear,  in  the  name  of  strict  truth,  for 
they,  although  they  did  more  than  anybody  else  for 
us,  and  have  my  everlasting  thanks  for  it,  had  an  ax 
to  grind,  none  the  less,  and  made  us  think,  before  we 
were  done,  that  we  had  paid  pretty  dear  for  their 
favor.)  As  for  bounds,  it  simply  had  none,  that  we 


A  Lord  of  Lands.  147 

ever  discovered.  We  had  to  find  us  a  place  to  sleep 
until  we  should  be  able  to  get  up  a  shelter  of  our 
own,  for  the  nights  were  cold  enough,  and  although 
two  or  three  of  the  brave,  adventurous  spirits  were 
for  rolling  themselves  in  blankets  and  sleeping  on 
the  ground,  the  better  sense  prevailed  and  we  voted 
such  a  thing  out  of  the  question,  for  us,  and  spoke 
for  quarters  in  the  nearest  barns.  But  do  you  sup- 
pose the  people  would  have  it  ?  Not  they.  Nothing 
would  do  them  but  we  must  come  and  sleep  in  their 
houses,  and  their  best  rooms  at  that,  which  they 
kept  for  company,  and  when  we  held  back  and 
showed  a  reluctance,  which  we  could  not  help  but 
feel,  fearing  to  impose  on  them,  they  were  ready  to 
quarrel  with  us  over  it,  and  displayed  temper,  in 
a  mild  way,  of  course.  But  we  held  firmly  to  our 
resolution  to  put  them  to  no  such  trouble  as  that, 
and  at  last  the  matter  was  compromised  by  our 
being  suffered  to  bunk  in  the  barns,  provided  we 
used  all  the  blankets  and  comforters  they  brought 
us  (we  all  but  smothered  under  the  profusion  of 
them)  and  came  in  and  had  hot  coffee  and  buck- 
wheat cakes  with  them  every  morning  before  set- 
ting out  for  work.  I  suppose  the  best  of  entertain- 
ment is  where  the  guest  is  made  to  feel  that  he  is 
doing  his  host  a  favor,  and  if  our  entertainment 
during  those  first  days  did  not  rise  to  that  level, 
then  I  have  never  met  with  any  that  did. 

And  never  a  penny  of  pay  would  they  take.  It 
was  only  a  neighborly  turn,  they  said,  as  often  as 
we  spoke  of  our  obligation,  and  they  recoiled  in 
horror  from  the  barest  suggestion  that  they  take  pay 


148  A   Lord  of  Lands. 

for  doing  a  neighborly  turn.  Only  a  neighborly 
turn?  As  if  anything  could  be  greater.  God  is 
never  kinder  to  a  creature  of  His,  I  think,  than 
when  he  gives  a  man  good  neighbors. 


CHAPTER  VII. 

All  the  while  we  were  building  and  getting  ready, 
a  month  and  a  few  days  over,  we  kept  in  touch  with 
our  womenkind,  some  one  of  us  writing  to  them 
every  day,  and  some  one  of  them  writing  back.    We 
practised   the   innocent   deception   of  writing   only 
about  the  pleasant  things,    the    goodness    of    the 
neighbors,  and  the  bracing  purity  of  the  air,  and 
the  freedom,  and  I  doubt  not  they  did  likewise  on 
their  part,  for    in  all    likelihood    they    had    their 
troubles,  what  with  having  to  manage  so  parsimoni- 
ously, to  say  nothing  of  the  uneasiness  of  youn^ 
families  being  separated  that  way.     They  had  their 
work  to  do,  too,  getting  our  household  goods  in 
shape  to  ship,  the  fragile  things  in  crates  and  the 
better  furniture  swathed  in  burlaps,  and  whether 
that  is  easy  work  or  otherwise,  they  who  have  had 
it  to  do  need  not  be  told.     A  Methodist  parson 
whom  I  once  knew  used  to  say  that  he  rested  his 
assurance  of  the  divine  ordinance  of  his  office  on 
the  rule  of  itinerancy,  which  then  prevailed  in  his 
Church.     He  was  firmly  convinced  that  no  mere 
man  could  ever  have  the  heart  to  impose  upon  a 
fellow-man  the  unspeakable  hardship  of  having  to 
pack  up  every  three  years,  and  since  no  man  could 
have  done  it,  it  must  be  the  work  of  God.    We  had 


150  A  Lord  of  Lands. 

planned  to  bring  out,  of  the  furniture  which  had 
served  us  in  town,  as  much  as  would  fill  a  car,  and 
that  would  comprise  about  all  we  had  of  value. 
While  we  were  to  have  free  transportation  for  our- 
selves and  our  goods,  and  no  limit  set,  as  a  personal 
compliment  from  Jones  Baring,  we  were  alive  to 
the  danger  of  riding  a  free  horse  to  death.  Some 
of  us,  notably  the  Rosses,  had  but  little  to  fetch,  but 
even  they  had  enough  for  the  modest  demands  of 
housekeeping  in  the  country,  especially  after  they 
had  traded  back  their  great  perambulator  for 
kitchen  utensils. 

When  the  houses  were  about  done,  I  was  chosen, 
as  being  better  versed  than  any  of  the  others  in  the 
mysteries  of  railway  transportation,  to  go  back  and 
come  on  with  the  goods.  In  our  situation,  we  were 
convinced,  it  would  never  do  to  have  the  goods 
straggling  along,  as  freight  was  more  than  likely 
to  straggle,  if  left  to  itself.  So  back  I  went,  and 
found  the  goods  ready,  and  got  them  loaded  into 
the  car  without  mishap  or  untoward  incident,  though 
not  without  expense,  for  there  were  no  Samari- 
tans with  wagons  to  come  to  our  'sistance,  there, 
and  then  there  rose  up  a  fresh  difficulty,  which 
seemed  to  me  pretty  formidable.  Of  course  the  wo- 
men and  children  were  to  travel  express,  that  is, 
twice  as  fast  as  freight,  with  freight  doing  its 
level  best.  How  was  I  to  get  the  goods  through 
and  have  them  there  for  the  use  of  the  families, 
unless  I  should  have  at  least  four  days  the  start, 
and  with  every  scrap  of  their  furniture  gone,  and 
no  money  left  to  pay  board  with,  how  were  the 


A  Lord  of  Lands.  151 

families  to  wait  so  long  before  setting-  out?  For 
my  part,  I  had  no  better  expedient  to  offer  than  that 
they  go  on,  at  once,  and  make  such  shift  as  they 
could  without  the  goods,  until  I  should  arrive,  and 
it  was  a  poor  device,  with  a  dozen  babies  in  arms, 
and  a  dozen  more  barely  able  to  toddle,  to  undergo 
the  trial  of  a  complete  change  of  scene  and  air,  and 
nothing  to  make  them  comfortable  with,  except  as 
the  neighbors  might  come  to  the  rescue,  and  they 
had  their  limitations,  however  good  their  will  might 
be.  But  when  I  went  to  the  women  with  my  dif- 
culty,  they  laughed  at  me,  and  told  me  I  was  making 
more  than  a  mountain  out  of  less  than  a  molehill. 
Of  course,  quoth  they,  they  would  visit  during  the 
four  days.  Nothing  could  be  easier,  in  their  view, 
than  visiting  round  for  four  days,  or  six  days,  or 
ten  days,  for  that  matter,  if  I  wished  it,  for  were 
they  not  going  away  for  good,  with  no  expectation 
of  ever  coming  back  ?  Indeed,  people  would  demand 
it  of  them,  and  feel  hurt  should  they  omit  it.  I  will 
not  pretend  that  I  was  overly  charmed,  or  that  I 
failed  to  ask  myself  whether  it  was  doing  pre- 
cisely as  we  would  be  done  by,  but  it  was  not  for  me 
to  point  out  the  fine  distinctions,  since  the  women 
were  to  carry  out  their  program  by  themselves.  So 
I  contented  myself  with  saying  that  if  they  would 
give  me  four  days  the  start,  I  would  engage  to 
have  the  goods  in  the  houses  when  they  arrived. 
Women  have  a  resourcefulness  all  their  own,  nor 
are  they  necessarily  less  scrupulous  than  men,  some- 
thing depending  on  the  point  of  view. 

Had  I  the  wish  to  garnish  my  narrative  with 


152  A   Lord  of  Lands. 

stirring  adventure,  I  would  dwell  more  upon  my 
journey  hither  with  the  goods,  for  it  was  a  trans- 
action fraught  with  surprise  and  sensation  and  pro- 
found uncertainty  until  the  very  last.  But  for  the 
sober  purposes  I  have  in  view,  it  will  suffice  to  say 
that  I  took  in  one  hand  my  pass  signed  with  the 
name  of  Jones  Baring  himself,  and  countersigned  by 
all  the  various  agents  and  actuaries  until  it  looked 
like  a  treaty  of  peace  between  two  sovereign  powers, 
or  something  equally  as  momentous,  and  if  it  had 
looked  anything  less,  I  know  not  what  I  should  have 
done,  and  in  the  other,  my  union  card,  in  order  to 
invoke  the  obligation  of  fraternity  where  the  appeal 
to  authority  failed,  and  labored,  and  prayed,  and 
stormed,  and  begged,  and  threatened,  and  cajoled, 
for  a  week  unceasingly,  for  I  scarcely  slept  in  all 
that  time,  lest  they  carelessly  cut  out  our  car  while 
my  eyes  were  shut,  and  leave  it  in  some  obscure 
siding,  to  be  hunted  out  with  no  end  of  trouble  and 
delay.  There  is  the  barest  possibility,  I  will  confess, 
that  the  car  would  have  gone  through  as  quickly, 
if  I  had  left  it  to  take  its  chances,  but  it  is  the  possi- 
bility of  all  the  powers  of  heaven  and  earth  conspir- 
ing in  its  favor,  something  which  seldom  comes  to 
pass,  and  something  which  no  prudent  man  counts 
on.  The  probability  is  that  our  car,  in  the  usual 
course,  would  have  been  anywhere  from  four  to  ten 
weeks  on  the  road,  and  perhaps  even  longer.  I  know 
how  freight  was  managed  in  those  days,  and  the 
wonder  to  me  ever  was,  not  that  there  was  delay  in 
delivery,  but  rather  that  there  was  any  delivery  at 
all.    You  may  beheve  that  I  sent  up  a  great  sigh  of 


A  Lord  of  Lands.  153 

relief  when  I  saw  our  car  at  last  kicked  into  our  sid- 
ing, the  day  before  the  women  were  due  to  arrive. 
I  shouted  and  waved  my  best  thanks  to  the  train 
crew  as  they  pulled  out,  and  then  I  made  off  over 
the  hills  to  the  farm  to  get  the  wagons.  It  seemed 
to  me  like  coming  home,  and  I  whistled  and  sang, 
and  called  out  cheerily  to  every  human  being  I  saw 
on  the  way. 

By  nightfall  we  had  the  goods  in  the  houses,  and 
the  houses  looking  as  much  like  homes  as  mere  men 
alone  have  it  in  their  power  to  make  any  place  look 
like  home.  The  furniture  seemed  mighty  scant 
in  our  great  new  mansions,  and  after  everything 
was  in,  there  remained  an  emptiness,  and  a  dis- 
concerting echo,  to  mock  every  sound.  I  know  not 
what  befell  that  echo,  but  we  heard  no  more  of  it 
after  the  families  came.  Possibly  the  incessant  up- 
roar of  the  little  ones  tired  it  out,  but  I  fancy  the 
truth  is  that  it  found  no  room  to  do  business  in  after 
the  vacant  spaces  began  to  fill  up  with  the  number- 
less things  which  women  know  how  to  make  out  of 
nothing. 

We  spruced  up  quite  a  bit  outside,  for  here  we 
were  more  in  our  element.  We  cut  away  the  worst 
of  the  brush  and  trimmed  up  the  trees  which  were 
near  the  houses,  and  we  removed  all  the  litter  of 
carpentry  and  raked  the  ground  over,  and  gave  the 
place  withal  a  bland  and  finished  aspect  as  compared 
with  its  native  shagginess.  Moreover,  nature  had 
not  been  idle.  It  was  April  now,  after  a  warm 
March,  and  the  growing  things  were  looking  up, 
and  the  landscape  was  taking  on  those  first  pale 


154  A   Lord   of  Lands. 

tints  of  green,  which,  by  their  dehcacy,  give  to  the 
young  spring  a  charming  air  of  shyness  not  to  be 
found  amid  the  bold  and  buxom  profuseness  of  her 
maturer  beauties. 

We  husbands  and  fathers,  who  had  never  before 
been  away  from,  our  famiHes  for  longer  than  a  few 
hours  at  a  time,  naturally  made  much  of  this  home- 
coming of  the  wives  and  the  babies,  but  the  neigh- 
bors, whom  the  occasion  did  not  concern  at  all 
except  sentimentally,  made  hardly  less  of  it.  For 
a  little  we  were  not  wholly  pleased  with  this,  and 
thought  within  ourselves  they  were  just  the  least  bit 
indelicate  to  intrude  upon  our  privacy,  at  such  a 
time,  but  when  we  beheld  their  preparations,  how 
unsparing  they  were  of  pains  to  make  welcome  these 
wayfaring  strangers,  to  give  comfort  to  those  whose 
comfort  was  our  first  concern,  our  hearts  verily 
melted  and  went  out  to  them  in  love  and  gratitude. 
Among  those  neighbors  there  were  some  I  could 
have  hugged,  that  day,  I  was  that  moved  by  seeing 
them  go  on  as  if  they  had  nothing  in  the  world  to  do 
but  wait  upon  the  pleasure  of  us  and  ours,  and  I  did 
not  see  the  best  of  it,  either,  till  after.  For  quite 
unbeknown  to  us,  the  womenfolks  had  been  at  work 
for  some  days,  getting  up  a  great  collation  of  eat- 
ables, homely  viands  than  which  nothing  goes  better 
where  one  is  really  hungry.  I  recall  especially  the 
ham  of  their  own  curing,  for  it  had  a  flavor  wholly 
different  from  the  rancid  bitterness  of  the  meat  as 
the  butchers  make  it,  and  the  baked  beans  which 
were  really  baked,  in  those  wonderful  brick  ovens 
which  civilization  has  discarded,  I  suppose  because 


A   Lord  of  Lands.  155 

they  valued  a  man's  stomach  above  his  time,  and 
doughnuts  of  the  most  substantial  character,  with 
as  much  nourishment  in  one,  I  firmly  believe,  as  in 
the  pound  loaf  of  the  average  baker,  and  the  pies, 
which  were  two  inches  deep,  not  counting  the 
crusts.  These  good  things  the  women  had  made 
ready  at  their  own  homes,  on  the  sly,  and  the  mo- 
ment we  were  off  to  meet  the  train,  they  hurried 
over  with  their  burden  of  good  cheer  and  took 
possession  of  our  houses,  started  fires  in  the  stoves, 
and  made  coffee  and  tea,  and  baked  abundant 
batches  of  corpulent  buttermilk  biscuits,  and,  in 
short,  laid  a  great  feast  for  us.  When  we  got  back, 
here  they  were,  waiting  for  us,  and  diffusing  such 
a  warmth  of  good  will  as  made  us  think  the  perfect 
day  had  come,  or,  at  all  events,  a  very  satisfactory 
imitation  of  it.  In  the  fulness  of  time,  we  dis- 
covered that  these  neighbors  were  of  the  brood  of 
Adam  and  had  their  faults,  like  the  rest  of  us,  but 
in  the  ledger  page  which  holds  our  final  esti- 
mate of  them,  there  is  set  down,  under  the  date  of 
that  first  day  when  we  brought  our  people  home, 
such  a  credit  as  overbalances  full  many  an  entry 
on  the  other  side. 

Nor  were  the  men-folks  to  be  outdone  in  kind 
intent,  though  what  they  did  for  us,  in  this  instance, 
was  of  less  solid  advantage,  more  in  the  way  of  a 
courtesy.  Even  in  those  days,  when  farmers  as  a 
class  were  much  poorer  than  they  have  since  be- 
come, about  every  man  had  him  a  light  rig  for 
driving  in  style,  usually  with  a  horse  kept  for  the 
purpose,  and  boasted  of  as  related,  more  or  less  re- 


156 


A   Lord  of  Lands. 


motely,  to  I  know  not  what  distinguished  family  of 
racers,  and  in  this  brave  array  did  our  neighbor 
men  gather,  to  the  number  of  a  score,  I  should  say, 
and  proceed  with  us  to  the  station.  They  had  de- 
cided among  themselves  that  it  would  be  too  bad  to 
leave  our  women  to  ride  in  our  heavy,  lumbering 
old  wagons,  which  had  not  even  the  merit  of  being 
brightly  painted,  to  say  nothing  of  the  complete 
lack  of  springs,  and  that  it  lay  upon  them  to  scour 
up  their  various  carts  and  carriages,  and  newly  oil 
their  harnesses,  and  brush  their  fast  horses,  while 
they  dressed  themselves  in  their  best,  and  assumed 
their  best  air  of  jollity,  and  fetched  the  strangers 
home.  I  was  something  shocked  by  the  candor  of 
rustic  wit,  at  first,  but  I  have  long  since  learned  to 
estimate  it  aright,  and  now  nothing  warms  me  more. 
Some  of  the  things  said  that  day,  by  those  good 
men,  in  the  spirit  of  levity,  would  not  look  well  in 
cold  print,  and  even  after  the  women  came,  remarks 
were  plentifully  let  fall  which  were  not  in  the  best 
taste,  according  to  my  then  way  of  thinking,  but  all 
the  time  the  good  will  behind  the  rude  words  was 
plain,  and  who  were  we  to  take  offense? 

When  the  train  pulled  up,  and  our  party  swarmed 
out,  looking  fresh  and  bright  for  all  their  long 
journey,  there  was  a  great  ado,  you  may  know. 
We  began  with  attempting  to  carry  the  matter  off 
in  a  sprightly  way,  with  mirth  and  loud  laughter,  but 
the  stream  of  emotion  ran  too  deep  for  that,  and  be- 
fore we  knew  it,  some  of  the  women  had  begun  to 
cry,  and  in  less  time  than  I  am  telling  it,  they  were 
all  crying.    We  men  cried,  too,  in  clumsy  man  fash- 


A  Lord  of  Lands.  157 

ion,  that  is  without  any  right  effusion  of  tears, 
but  with  a  gulping  and  choking  and  hemming  and 
hawing  which  comes  to  much  the  same  thing  as  far 
as  regards  making  a  spectacle  of  one's  self.  We 
learned  later  that  the  women  had  conspired  to  shout 
at  us  in  a  great  chorus  and  salute  us  with  the  various 
epithets  whereby  urban  humor  is  wont  to  cloak 
its  envy  of  rustic  felicity,  thinking  to  have  great  fun 
of  it,  but  in  the  unexpected  rush  of  their  feelings 
they  forgot  the  mischief,  which  was  just  as  well, 
for  more  than  likely  our  neighbors  would  have  taken 
the  allusion  to  themselves,  and  felt  hurt. 

But  a  little  crying  went  a  great  way,  and  soon 
we  were  laughing  and  chattering,  and  waving  our 
hats  and  our  handkerchiefs  to  the  people  on  the 
train,  who  had  got  an  inkling  of  the  posture  of 
affairs  and  were  cheering  like  mad  all  the  while. 
By  degrees,  in  the  confusion,  we  made  out  to  get 
the  neighbors  introduced,  those  who  had  not  forth- 
with introduced  themselves,  and  they  bore  them- 
selves admirably  for  all  of  their  being  unused  to 
the  business.  It  is  true  they  did  not  lift  their  hats, 
in  the  town  manner,  and  that  seemed  odd  at  the 
time,  but  after  all  they  made  it  clear  that  they  had 
a  proper  respect,  which  is  the  main  object  of  polite- 
ness, I  should  think.  Now  that  I  am  become  a 
thorough  countryman  myself,  I  find  myself  but 
little  inclined  to  uncover,  as  formerly,  at  the  near 
approach  of  a  woman,  although  I  have  lost  none  of 
my  reverence  for  the  sex,  and,  furthermore,  when  I 
see  a  man  bowing  and  smirking  with  his  hat  in  his 
hand,   I   feel  some  distrust  of  his  sincerity.     It  is 


158  A  Lord  of  Lands. 

no  great  compliment  to  a  woman  for  a  man  to  act 
in  her  presence  as  an  idolater  in  the  presence  of 
his  vain  idol,  and  I  suspect  that  if  he  would  but 
treat  her  fairly  in  all  things,  she  would  gladly  dis- 
pense him  of  the  forms  of  adoration.  However,  in 
this  I  lay  no  claim  to  having  spoken  the  last  word, 
and  I  cheerfully  record  that  Elizabeth  wholly  dis- 
sents, maintaining  that  no  man  can  understand  what 
the  gloss  of  chivalry  means  to  a  woman,  or  to  what 
degree  the  solace  of  a  pretty  obeisance  may  compen- 
sate the  sordid  worries  of  her  life.  Men  are  brutes, 
anyway  and  always,  says  Elizabeth,  (I  believe  she 
would,  if  cornered,  except  her  father,  although 
another  woman  might  not)  and  while  manners  can- 
not make  them  any  the  less  brutes  a  brute  with 
manners  is  more  tolerable  than  a  brute  without 
them.    Will  you  think  of  the  severity  of  the  girl  ? 

Knowing  nothing  of  the  benevolent  intentions  of 
the  neighbors,  our  design  had  been  to  convey  the 
women  and  children  home  in  the  wagons  and  then 
come  back  for  the  trunks  and  parcels,  of  which  there 
was  such  a  profusion  as  might  raise  some  doubt  as 
to  our  poverty,  until  you  saw  the  contents,  which 
comprised  a  few  worn  clothes  and  a  great  many 
things  which  association  made  dear,  but  which  to 
all  practical  uses  were  the  merest  lumber.  But 
now  we  had  but  one  trip  to  make,  for  the  women 
were  whisked  off  in  the  fancy  rigs,  with  all  the 
comfort  of  springs,  and  of  the  style,  too,  for  where 
beats  there  the  truly  feminine  heart  which  is  not 
gladdened  by  display?  Of  course  they  took  the 
smallest  children  with  them,   but  the  others  who 


A   Lord  of  Lands.  159 

were  of  an  age  for  adventure  and  anxious,  besides, 
to  renew  acquaintance  with  their  fathers,  remained 
with  us,  while  we  loaded  the  baggage  into  the 
wagons,  and  came  slowly  after.  The  fast  horses 
had  to  show  their  paces  of  course,  and  they  all 
vanished  over  the  hills  in  a  cloud  of  dust  before  we 
were  so  much  as  ready  to  leave  the  station,  and  by 
the  time  we  reached  home,  the  amenities  had  pro- 
gressed so  far  that  the  neighbor  women  were  quite 
tolerably  informed  as  to  every  baby  in  our  party, 
how  many  teeth  he  had  cut,  and  were  rapidly  com- 
ing to  a  decision  as  to  whether  he  favored  his  mother 
more,  or  his  father. 

And  then  we  sat  down  to  the  bountiful  repast, 
and  testified  our  joy  anew,  though  in  the  good  old 
way  that  has  obtained  from  the  earliest  times,  for 
are  we  not  assured  that  the  heroes  of  Homer  always 
stuffed  themselves  with  food  whenever  they  felt 
especially  lifted  up?  The  new-comers  were  as  hun- 
gry as  wolves,  what  with  all  the  relief  of  arriving, 
and  the  brisk  ride  in  the  open  air,  after  the  long 
subsistence  on  the  dry  and  monotonous  fare  of  the 
journey.  You  will  understand  that  I  am  speaking 
now  more  particularly  of  Ludovika  and  our  own 
brood,  for  the  sixteen  families  were  gathered  each 
under  its  own  roof.  Were  it  not  that  we  were  quite 
by  ourselves,  I  cannot  be  sure  that  I  must  not  have 
been  ashamed  of  Ludovika  she  was  that  hearty,  es- 
pecially as  to  the  pies,  which  in  their  generous  depth 
surpassed  anything  she  had  ever  seen,  even  in  her 
dreams,  as  she  freely  confessed.  But  I  could  easily 
overlook  any  lack  of  fastidiousness,  when  at  last, 


i6o  A  Lord  of  Lands. 

having  eaten  her  fill,  she  sank  down  into  the  big 
stuffed  chair  which  she  gave  me  on  my  first  birthday- 
after  we  were  married,  before  the  manifold  blessings 
of  Providence  had  begun  to  cramp  us  for  means, 
and  with  a  look  of  the  most  engaging  contentment 
exclaimed : 

"  Matthew,  it  is  all  so  lovely !  Is  the  country 
always  like  this?  " 

I  was  made  pretty  full  in  my  throat,  by  this,  out 
of  joy,  and  the  general  sense  of  being  favored 
beyond  my  due,  but  I  put  on  a  merry  face,  and 
rallied  her  briskly,  asking  her  if  she  imagined  the 
neighbors  had  undertaken  to  board  us  permanently, 
and  then  she  knit  her  brows  in  deep  thought,  and 
began  to  lay  plans  for  the  best  disposal  of  the 
furniture,  an  affair  of  some  embarrassment,  now  that 
we  were  to  have  no  fewer  than  seven  rooms,  not 
to  speak  of  the  great  garret  above  stairs. 

And  where  were  the  neighbors  the  while?  Gone, 
the  moment  there  was  no  more  for  them  to  do, 
without  saying  a  word  to  anybody.  They  had 
plenty  of  delicacy,  after  all,  God  bless  them !  Their 
ears  should  have  tingled,  that  day,  for  never  were 
people  more  warmly  talked  about.  Over  and  over 
again  we  exclaimed  how  thankful  we  should  be, 
for  these  good  friends.  We  could  not  believe  that 
they  had  their  like  anywhere  in  the  world,  or  that 
we  were  not  favored  above  all  mortals,  for  we  had 
yet  to  learn  how  much  of  the  kindliness  (not  to 
disparage  the  people)  was  a  product  of  the  environ- 
ment. These  wonderful  new  neighbors  were  not 
essentially   different   from   the   neighbors   we   had 


A   Lord   of  Lands.  i  6  i 

known  in  town  where  every  body  was  like  the  priest 
and  the  Levite  and  passed  by  on  the  other  side,  for 
if  these  latter  had  been  selfish,  it  was  their  environ- 
ment that  made  them  so. 

All  that  day  we  visited  and  made  merry,  wander- 
ing about  the  places,  looking  over  the  fields,  schem- 
ing and  scheming  endlessly  as  to  what  we  should 
do.  The  air  was  full  of  the  gay  laughter  of  the 
women,  as  they  pried  into  all  the  arrangements,  and 
it  was  music  to  me,  for  it  bore  witness  to  their 
genuine  interest,  and  with  the  women  interested, 
the  battle  was  more  than  half  won,  I  thought. 
They  were  deeply  guilty  of  one  of  the  harmless 
insincerities  which  help  to  give  their  sex  its  character 
of  pleasing  uncertainty,  for  although  they  loudly 
protested  that  we  had  done  wonders,  in  our  manner 
of  fixing  things,  and  they  were  quite  in  despair 
of  being  able  to  effect  any  the  least  improvement, 
even  as  they  spoke,  they  were  pulling  everything  to 
pieces  and  making  it  over,  to  everything's  vast  and 
evident  benefit,  I  need  hardly  add.  But  no  man  of 
us  was  put  out,  I  know.  I  daresay  they  all  felt 
as  I  did,  and  I  was  that  glad  to  see  the  woman 
taking  a  real  interest,  and  laying  hold  of  things  in 
a  way  which  showed  her  heart  was  in  it,  I  cared  not 
a  fig  to  w^hat  extent  she  chose  to  undo  my  handi- 
work. 

As  for  the  children,  they  were  so  wrought  up, 
come  night,  that  they  could  not  sleep,  but  lay 
awake  and  chattered  over  their  new  world  until  I 
had  to  go  and  command  them  to  be  quiet,  on  pain 
of  something  severe. 
II 


CHAPTER  VIII. 

Of  course  we  had  more  to  do  than  play  and  plan. 
The  sternness  of  the  business  was  mostly  before  us, 
and  such  a  sternness  as  we  wot  not  of,  else  I  doubt 
if  we  should  have  had  the  courage  to  go  on.  But 
of  this  much  we  were  well  aware,  and  spoke  of  it 
often  by  way  of  keeping  ourselves  in  mind  of  it, 
namely,  that  whereas  until  now  pretty  much  every- 
thing had  been  done  for  us,  henceforth  we  had 
everything  to  do  for  ourselves.  And  yet  it  was 
entirely  right  and  proper  and  profitable  altogether 
that  we  eat  and  be  joyful  on  that  first  day,  and 
forget  all  care  if  we  could,  for  the  remembrance  of  it 
abode  with  us  long  and  was  a  solace  and  a  help. 

The  engaging  newness  rubbed  off  fast.  The 
first  work  which  our  hands  found  to  do,  after  we 
were  settled  in  our  homes,  was  the  toilsome  work 
of  clearing  the  land.  As  compared  with  the  clear- 
ing of  real  timber  land,  where  the  trees  grow 
thickly,  and  where  a  trunk  the  size  of  a  man's 
body,  than  which  we  had  none  larger,  would  be 
thought  small,  it  was  mere  sport,  but  it  was  irksome 
enough  to  quell  our  spirits,  for  while  we  knew 
what  labor  was,  in  a  way,  we  were  not  at  all  used 
to  such  delving  and  grubbing  as  now  we  had  to  do. 
In  tlie  thought  of  keeping  up  our  courage,  we  flew 


A   Lord  of  Lands.  163 

at  it  with  an  excess  of  zeal,  which  was  a  serious 
mistake,  and  we  naturally  went  the  wrong  way 
about  the  work,  which  made  matters  worse,  and 
it  was  only  a  few  hours  until  every  mother's  son  of 
us  had  his  fill  of  it,  and  was  inwardly  cursing  it, 
and  but  for  his  pride  would  have  thrown  down  his 
tools  and  quit.  Can  I  ever  forget  our  first  grub- 
ing,  and  what  a  sore,  disgusted  lot  we  were  when 
we  dragged  ourselves  home  at  night,  aching  in 
every  bone,  our  hands  worn  raw,  and  our  hearts  in 
our  boots,  or  thereabouts? 

But  that  pride  of  ours  held  like  a  sheet  anchor, 
to  assign  no  better  ground  to  our  steadfastness,  and 
we  came  back  to  the  rack  day  after  day,  and 
presently  the  cup  of  bitterness  passed  from  us.  We 
had  some  sense  to  profit  by  our  mistakes.  In  that 
way  we  learned  to  take  things  easier,  and  not  to 
let  our  ambition  run  away  with  us.  And  we  learned 
something  of  the  art,  too,  by  little  and  little,  how 
to  make  our  efforts  count  to  the  utmost.  We 
found,  for  instance,  that  nothing  was  to  be  gained 
by  sparing  the  spade.  We  began  with  digging  as 
little  as  possible,  in  order  to  reach  the  roots  of  the 
trees,  and  it  was  not  until  we  had  wasted  some 
considerable  energy  that  we  developed  the  true 
economy,  which  lay  in  a  copious  removal  of  earth 
at  the  outset,  to  afford  room  for  chopping  to  the 
best  advantage.  The  neighbors,  who  still  kept  a 
kindly  eye  on  us,  showed  us  a  profitable  trick,  which 
experience  would  hardly  have  taught  us,  and  Tucker 
lent  us  a  heavy  chain  to  carry  it  out  with.  This 
was  a  matter  of  hitching  the  horses  to  a  high  part 


164  A  Lord  of  Lands. 

of  the  tree,  to  pull  while  we  hacked  away  below, 
and  it  saved  us  nigh  half  the  work,  I  should  say,  for 
it  served  to  break  off  the  roots  which  were  the 
hardest  to  get  at  with  an  ax. 

Moreover,  as  we  endured,  we  hardened.  The 
second  day,  though  our  hands  seemed  all  but  useless 
with  their  profusion  of  smarting  blisters,  we  began 
to  be  conscious  of  the  tide  of  manly  strength, 
setting  back  from  its  ebb.  This  was  due,  I  surmise, 
to  the  wonderful  deep,  sweet  sleep  which  our  wear- 
iness, and  the  fresh  air,  and  the  rural  quiet,  had 
brought  us,  and  continued  to  bring  us,  night  after 
night,  till  the  heat  of  summer  interposed,  with  its 
various  disturbing  influences.  By  less  and  less 
effort,  of  a  morning,  we  were  able  to  breakfast 
cheerily,  and  get  away  with  song  and  merriment, 
and  it  was  not  long  until  there  was  no  affectation 
about  it,  any  more,  the  joy  came  bubbling  up  of 
itself.  I  doubt  very  much  if  the  average  man  is 
capable  of  loving  work  for  its  own  sake,  although  it 
is  certain  that  he  falls  into  a  woeful  uneasiness  with- 
out serious  employment,  but  as  long  as  he  is  poor, 
he  has  plenty  of  reason  to  love  work  for  what  it 
will  bring  him,  and  it  all  comes  to  the  same  thing, 
at  last.  He  finds  happiness  in  toil,  and  we  found 
it,  even  in  the  bitter  toil  of  clearing  up  our  land. 
We  ate  our  bread  in  the  sweat  of  our  face,  and 
found  it  no  curse,  though  the  theologians  pronounce 
it  such,  I  am  told. 

We  cleared  the  home  acres  first  of  all,  in  order  to 
get  the  garden  truck  started  betimes,  and  as  fast 
as  we  cleared,  a  small  space  here  and  another  there. 


A   Lord  of  Lands.  165 

the  teams  came  on  and  plowed  it  up.  The  soil,  even 
in  its  raw  state,  was  of  the  loamy  texture  which 
breaks  easily,  and  once  broken  had  about  it  little 
or  nothing  of  the  crudity  which  often  makes  new 
land  next  to  useless  for  a  year  or  two.  And  the 
moment  there  was  a  sod  turned  over,  the  women 
and  children  swarmed  upon  it  like  feverish,  in- 
dustrious ants,  and  tilled  and  planted.  This  was 
what  they  had  long  been  looking  forward  to, 
and  whetting  their  appetite  for  with  anticipation, 
until  it  was  verily  a  labor  of  love  with  them.  They 
went  about  it  elaborately,  and  dug  and  poked  and 
turned  until  they  had  made  the  earth  very  soft  and 
powdery,  and  they  laid  down  the  seeds  very  tenderly 
and  covered  them  with  the  utmost  care,  all  with  a 
view  to  affording  every  encouragement  to  the 
impulse  of  germination.  They  began  to  look 
eagerly  for  results  the  very  next  day  after  the 
planting,  although  they  had  it  told  them  on  the  best 
authority  that  nothing  would  appear  above  ground 
for  at  least  a  week.  I  fancy  they  w^ere  secretly 
apprehensive  of  some  miracle  being  wrought  in 
their  favor  without  their  being  at  hand  to  witness  it, 
and  if  your  adage  says  truly  that  a  watched  pot 
never  boils,  and  there's  any  analogy  among  things, 
the  wonder  is  that  the  seeds  ever  came  up  at  all. 
The  growing  of  seeds  seems  a  commonplace  affair 
to  us,  now,  but  then  it  was  a  great  and  breathless 
mystery,  and  when  we  saw  the  grains  which  we  had 
sowed  with  our  own  hands  springing  up  and 
flourishing,  we  were  moved  to  a  species  of  awe, 
almost   as   if  we   had   seen   the   water   turned   to 


1 66  A  Lord  of  Lands. 

wine  at  the  marriage  feast.  Only  those  who  have 
lived  to  mature  years,  without  ever  having  con- 
sciously put  a  seed  in  the  ground  to  see  it  grow,  can 
understand  how  we  were  affected. 

We  came  not  far  short  of  beholding  a  miracle, 
after  all.  Summer  was  a  bit  late  in  putting  in  an 
appearance,  as  I  say,  but  a  most  amazingly  efficient 
summer  she  was  when  at  last  she  arrived,  approach- 
ing with  no  loitering,  uncertain  steps,  with  her 
face  half  veiled,  but  rather  as  a  vision  of  loveliness 
bursting  upon  us  all  at  once,  radiant  with  warmth 
and  light.  May,  until  the  last  week  thereof,  was 
sour  enough,  and  sulky,  and  cold,  but  about  the 
twentieth  day,  just  when  we  had  finished  planting 
our  corn,  and  were  asking  ourselves  what  might 
be  the  good  of  it,  with  the  air  all  but  yielding  a 
frost  every  night,  and  the  earth  scarcely  free  from 
the  clutches  of  winter,  when  there  descended  upon 
us  a  great  rush  of  geniality.  The  frostiness 
vanished  magically,  and  now  the  air  hung  heavy 
with  moisture,  like  the  air  of  some  hothouse,  mak- 
ing it  oppressive  enough  for  human  creatures,  but 
affording  the  plants  every  element  of  prosperity. 
From  somewhere  about  the  middle  of  June  until 
well  into  July  there  was  a  shower  every  blessed 
night,  or  it  seemed  so,  at  least.  The  lightning  and 
the  thunder  were  verily  terrific,  keeping  us  awake 
and  in  a  tense  frame  of  mind  with  the  uncertainty  of 
our  coming  through  alive,  and  once  a  great  tree 
which  we  had  left  to  shade  our  house  was  smitten 
and  shivered  into  matchwood,  all  of  which  was 
by  no  means  pleasant  in  the  time  of  it.     But  the 


A   Lord  of  Lands.  167 

showers  went  their  way,  when  their  work  was  done, 
and  morning  came  duly,  with  the  sky  so  clear  and 
soft  and  fresh  after  its  thorough  washing,  and  the 
good  old  sun  pouring  his  generous  beams  down  on 
the  soaked  and  steaming  earth,  and  then  you  could 
fancy  that  the  crops  fairly  rose  in  jubilation. 

I  can  tell  some  tall  stories  of  how  things  grew 
that  year,  stories  hard  to  believe.  Among  all  the 
variety  of  our  plantations  there  were  some  beans 
of  the  scarlet  runner  sort,  which  yield  a  fine  fruit, 
but  are  especially  esteemed  for  their  gorgeous 
blossoms,  and  their  progress  astounded  us  so  that 
we  resolved  to  measure  it  accurately,  in  order  to 
be  able  to  tell  the  story  of  it  with  the  backing  of 
figures.  Between  one  sunset  and  the  next,  we 
found,  by  marking  the  exact  points,  the  tip  of  a 
runner  advanced  between  thirteen  and  fourteen 
inches,  or  something  over  half  an  inch  an  hour.  We 
roughly  estimated  that  the  vine  was  traveling,  by 
its  own  vigor,  about  as  fast  as  the  end  of  the 
hour-hand  of  our  clock,  and  this,  when  we  ob- 
served it  closely,  we  thought  we  could  see  the  motion 
of.  It  seemed  a  great  wonder,  but  a  greater,  I 
think,  was  the  achievement  of  the  corn.  The  corn 
had  been  coming  along  grandly,  and  by  the  first 
week  in  July,  although  it  had  been  planted  rather 
late,  it  had  got  its  leaves  up  to  about  the  height  of 
a  man's  knees.  I  can  vouch  that  it  was  no  higher, 
because  when  we  went  out  to  work  in  it,  we  took 
the  precaution  to  cover  the  noses  of  the  horses 
with  the  muzzles,  to  keep  them  from  biting  off  the 
stalks  (the  Good  Book  bids  us  not  to  muzzle  the  ox 


1 68  A  Lord  of  Lands. 

that  treadeth  out  the  corn,  but  I  suspect  that  the 
ox  which  should  be  suffered  to  eat  while  he  was 
treading  out,  would  leave  himself  precious  little  for 
winter,  and  an  ox  is  far  less  ravenous  than  a 
horse)  but  removed  the  uncomfortable  things  when 
we  reached  the  field,  in  as  much  as  the  corn  was 
still  too  short  to  make  them  necessary.  The  next 
day,  the  heat  was  so  intense,  and  the  mugginess 
was  so  stifling,  we  dared  not  take  the  beasts  out 
lest  they  should  be  prostrated.  But  on  the  third 
day,  the  conditions  being  more  tolerable,  and  the 
weeds  pressing  for  attention,  we  sallied  forth  once 
more,  and  behold,  the  corn  had  risen  to  the  height 
of  our  shoulders  and  was  putting  out  its  tassels. 
Lest  you  get  from  these  boastings  too  favorable 
a  notion  of  our  climate,  I  am  going  to  tell  you  about 
another  year,  and  the  corn  we  had.  This  other 
year  we  had  a  killing  frost  on  the  night  of  July  4, 
and  the  corn  was  cut  to  the  ground  as  by  a  scythe. 
Nothing  was  to  be  seen  of  it  except  the  dry  dead 
leaves  fluttering  in  the  wind.  We  mourned  for 
our  crop,  thinking  it  lost,  of  course,  and  wondered 
what  we  might  plant  in  the  place  of  it,  at  that  late 
day,  which  should  give  us  some  use  of  the  land. 
But  even  as  we  mourned  and  wondered,  the  weather 
mended,  as  if  its  spite  were  spent  with  the  frost, 
and  we  were  astonished  to  see  our  corn  looking  up, 
in  a  lively  way,  and  a  little  later  it  had  spread  its 
green  banners  aloft  again,  most  stoutly,  like  the 
brave  good  plant  it  is.  In  the  end  we  harvested 
a  fair  yield  of  corn,  only  it  was  near  a  month  later 
than  it  should  be,  and  must  have  fallen  a  victim 


A   Lord   of  Lands.  169 

to  the  frost  after  all,  only  that  we  had  a  sunny  fall, 
as  if  to  compensate  us  for  the  backward  spring. 
We  learned  from  that  experience  that  corn  will 
stand  a  great  battering,  while  yet  it  is  young,  but 
let  it  be  touched  only  lightly,  in  its  later  stages,  and 
it  is  ruined  past  redemption. 

The  heaviest  of  the  wood,  as  it  happened,  grew 
in  the  middle  of  our  tract,  where  we  had  set  our 
homes,    and   when   we   had   got   the   garden-plots 
cleared  off,  we  had   the    worst   of    the    grubbing 
done.     In  the  out-fields,  as  we  called  them,  there 
were  considerable  spaces  where  no  trees  at  all  grew, 
and  only  now  and  then  a  clump  of  hazel.     These  we 
broke  up  at  once,  without  any  regard  for  the  lines 
which  divided  one  man's  land  from  another's,  for 
the  crop  was  to  be  common  property,  anyway,  for 
a  year  or  two,  and  our  wish  was  to  make  it  as 
large   as   possible   in   the   short   time   we   had   for 
getting  ready.     These  fields,   as  we  planted  them 
the  first  year,  were  scattered  here  and  there  and 
everywhere,  and  they  were  wholly  irregular  in  form, 
besides,  so  that  there  was  no  getting  at  their  area 
exactly,  but  I  believe  they  could  not  have  fallen 
much  short  of  a  hundred  acres,  all  told,  which  we 
planted  mostly  to  corn,  with  occasional  patches  of 
water-melons,  turnips,  beans,  potatoes  and  onions. 
Sixteen  pairs  of  willing  hands  made  the  work  move 
briskly,  and  the  three  teams  had  all  they  could  do 
to  keep  up  with  the  plowing,   from  the  time  the 
first  furrow   was  turned  until  it  was  too  late  to 
plant  anything  more.     The  soil,  as  I  have  remarked, 
was  soft  and  friable,  and  the  horses  were  powerful, 


I  JO  A  Lord  of  Lands. 

willing  fellows,  and  they  made  out  to  turn  over 
some  six  acres  a  day.  The  neighbors  all  declared 
this  a  very  creditable  performance,  and  in  assigning 
the  credit,  I  should  not  forget  our  teamsters,  who 
knew  how  to  get  the  most  out  of  a  horse  without 
injury  to  him.  Where  others,  who  had  been  farm- 
ers all  their  lives,  were  having  constant  trouble,  in 
the  heavy  spring  work,  with  their  horses  being 
galled  to  the  point  of  disability,  we  had  none  at  all. 
And  how  were  we  living,  the  while?  Not  on 
salt  pork  and  hardtack,  by  any  means,  though 
there  are  worse  things.  Before  we  had  been 
farmers  a  month  we  purchased  a  cow  for  each 
family,  the  best  cow  to  be  had,  though  such  was  not 
to  be  bought  for  a  song.  Our  cows  cost  us  almost 
eight  hundred  dollars,  or  something  like  fifty  dollars 
each,  but  we  never  begrudged  the  money,  or  doubted 
that  it  was  about  the  most  profitable  investment  we 
could  make  of  it.  Milk,  for  such  as  are  fortunate 
enough  to  take  to  it,  is  the  cheapest  of  all  foods,  and 
with  a  family  of  growing  children,  especially,  a  cow 
will  earn  her  cost  in  short  order.  You  will  readily 
understand  that  the  purchase  of  these  cows  w^as 
a  business  of  some  delicacy.  Of  course  we  knew 
absolutely  nothing  of  the  marks  of  a  good  cow, 
and  inasmuch  as  it  was  of  our  good  neighbors  that 
we  were  buying,  we  were  conscious  of  a  prudent 
hesitancy  about  taking  their  advice  implicitly.  Not 
to  deny  their  warm  neighborliness,  or  discredit  it 
in  the  least,  we  had  a  feeling,  now  that  we  were 
fairly  settled  and  in  a  position  to  take  care  of  our- 
selves, that  it  might  not  estop  them  from  making  a 


A   Lord  ot  Lands.  171 

thrifty  bargain  if  the  opportunity  offered.  We  were 
in  a  quandary,  in  fact,  and  how  the  others  got  out 
of  it,  I  cannot  say,  but  for  us  the  knot  was  cut  by 
Ludovika  suddenly  and  without  warning  fixing  her 
choice  upon  a  slender  little  heifer,  giving  it  as  her 
sole  reason  that  the  creature  had  the  loveliest  blue- 
black  eyes,  which  was  true,  and  the  sweetest  mouse- 
colored  nose,  which  was  equally  true.  It  was  a  most 
uncommon  thing  for  Ludovika  to  be  swayed  in  so 
practical  a  matter  by  sentimental  considerations, 
and  her  selection  seemed  to  the  last  degree  hazardous 
and  capricious,  but  it  turned  out  well.  The  cow 
was  given  the  name  Dornroeschen,  in  recognition  of 
her  gentleness  and  wholesomeness  (it  is  a  pretty 
name,  as  the  Germans  speak  it,  though  hard  enough 
for  me,  and  I  fell  into  the  way  of  saying  Durnrisky, 
as  being  a  fair  approximation,  and  at  the  same  time 
not  unsuggestive  of  the  facts  of  the  case)  and  she 
virtually  kept  us,  the  first  summer,  when  the  matter 
of  keep  was  somewhat  of  an  embarrassment,  since 
we  had  everthing  to  buy.  We  learned  of  our 
Yankee  neighbors  how  to  make  a  kind  of  bread 
they  called  bannock,  which  was  the  simplest  of 
simple  things,  what  with  having  nothing  in  it  but 
corn-meal,  and  a  pinch  of  salt  for  savor,  with  enough 
water  for  mixing,  and  was  baked  thin  over  a  hot 
fire,  until  it  was  all  but  solid  crust  through  and 
through.  There  was  a  sweetness  about  it,  together 
with  a  smack  of  wholesome  substantiality,  and  we 
took  a  great  fancy  to  it.  Eaten  with  milk,  out  of 
brown  earthen  bowls,  which  seemed,  by  their 
homely  solidity,  to  add  a  charm,  it  was  our  chief 


172  A  Lord  of  Lands. 

article  of  diet,  and  we  thought  it  fit  for  a  king, 
fitter,  indeed,  than  the  bulk  of  the  stuff  kings  are  fed 
with,  if  you  can  believe  what  you  read.  Before 
the  season  was  far  along,  our  garden  began  to 
yield  its  various  esculents  to  furnish  our  table  with 
variety,  first  the  dandelions  which  sprang  up  of 
themselves,  and  then  following  the  radishes  and  the 
lettuce  and  the  young  onions  and  the  peas  and  the 
beans  and  the  new  potatoes,  with  our  first  meal 
of  which  we  signalized  the  Fourth  of  July.  If  we 
cared  for  meat,  and  the  most  of  us  had  the  notion 
that  a  man  could  not  work  without  meat,  though  we 
soon  outgrew  it,  there  was  salt  pork  to  be  had  at 
small  expense,  out  of  some  neighbor's  barrel,  and 
while  we  had  despised  all  but  the  most  dehcate  cuts 
of  swine's  flesh,  when  we  dwelt  in  town,  having  no 
stomach  for  the  fatness  of  it,  here  our  appetites 
were  greatly  sharpened  by  the  activity  in  the  open 
air,  and  we  found  it  quite  to  our  liking,  and  candidly 
set  it  down  as  something  in  favor  of  life  in  the 
country  that  it  rendered  a  man  capable  of  enjoying 
the  fare  which  he  could  best  afford. 

When  the  planting  was  finished,  at  length,  we 
relaxed  a  bit.  The  land  being  new,  the  weeds  had 
not  to  be  fought  with  early  and  late,  as  the  necessity 
is  with  old  land  where  they  have  taken  firm  hold, 
although  they  were  not  by  any  means  to  be  left  to 
their  own  courses,  especially  in  view  of  the  extremely 
forward  weather,  by  w^hich  nature  seemed  more 
than  usually  determined  to  fill  up  the  spaces  among 
our  plants,  with  plants  of  her  own  such  as  she  had 
particularly  assigned  to  that  soil.     But  six  of  us, 


A   Lord  of  Lands.  173 

driving  the  six  horses  singly,  could  manage  the 
weeds  leaving  ten  of  us  to  seek  other  employment. 

This,  by  one  of  the  happiest  of  chances,  we  found 
among  the  farmers  of  the  vicinity,  without  going 
far  from  home.  These  men  had  all  of  them  fallen 
into  the  error,  as  I  esteem  it,  of  spreading  them- 
selves, as  it  were,  over  a  great  deal  of  land,  with 
the  result  that  they  were  chronically  short  of  help 
in  the  busy  season,  and  about  as  chronically  short 
of  the  means  of  hiring  ordinary  hands.  They  were 
mightily  glad  to  take  advantage  of  our  willingness 
to  be  paid  in  truck,  for  every  farmer  had  meal  in 
his  bin  and  meat  in  his  barrel,  if  no  money  in  his 
purse.  We,  on  our  part,  had  the  meat  and  the 
meal  to  buy,  anyway,  and  if  we  bought  it  with  our 
labor,  at  such  times  as  our  own  affairs  did  not 
press  for  attention,  we  did  thriftily,  for  by  so  much 
we  avoided  swelling  our  interest-bearing  debt. 
Pay  in  kind  Is  not  strictly  economical,  I  daresay, 
according  to  the  modern  theory,  but  it  has  its 
advantages,  nevertheless,  or  had,  for  us,  in  those 
early  days.  Not  to  insist  upon  any  great  profit  in 
dollars  and  cents,  it  was  worth  something  to  be 
improving  our  relations  with  our  neighbors,  con- 
firming their  good  will,  and,  what  was  most 
important,  learning  of  them. 

That  first  corn  crop  made  us  proud,  I  can  tell 
you,  when  it  had  grown  and  ripened  under  our 
hands,  and  swelled  us  up  with  quite  a  definite 
notion  that  we  were  already  become  tolerably 
finished  farmers.  The  soil  hereabouts,  take  it  year 
in  and  year  out,  is  not  properly  corn  soil..    It  lacks 


174  ^  Lord  of  Lands. 

the  stiffness.  The  grain  we  raise  and  call  by  the 
name  of  corn  would  provoke  a  smile  down  in  the 
corn  belt,  where  the  dirt  is  as  black  as  tar,  and 
about  as  sticky,  with  the  fatness  of  it,  as  I  am  told, 
and  where  the  stalks  at  their  height  are  tall  enough 
to  hide  a  man  on  horseback.  But  between  the 
sultry  air  above  and  the  rotting  clods  below,  our 
corn  was  well  fed  that  first  year,  and  throve  grandly. 
The  yield  was  such  a  mighty  store  of  rich  yellow 
ears  that  we  were  in  despair  of  providing  safe  hous- 
ing for  it.  We  were  advised  to  sell  it  off  at  once  and 
get  it  out  of  the  way,  as  the  custom  was  with  the 
other  farmers,  but  we  had  been  hatching  plans 
which  contemplated  storing  the  corn,  and  store  it 
tve  did,  resorting  to  all  sorts  of  makeshifts.  We  had 
no  strict  measure  of  it,  but  I  dare  guess  there  was  a 
matter  of  between  seven  and  eight  thousand  baskets 
of  it.  Will  you  think  of  that,  and  of  us,  less  than 
a  year  out  of  the  city? 

The  common  practice,  which  I  have  just  men- 
tioned, of  selling  the  grain  in  the  raw,  to  get  it 
out  of  the  way,  had  the  effect,  naturally,  of  making 
crude  corn  cheap,  while  meat,  which  is  only  grain 
in  a  more  advanced  state,  was  rather  high.  Why  it 
was  reserved  to  us  to  find  a  better  way,  I  shall  not 
pretend  to  say.  Possibly  our  fresh  point  of  view 
enabled  us  to  see  the  conditions  better,  and  what 
they  implied  and  promised,  while  other  farmers, 
looking  out  through  the  dim  spectacles  of  tradition, 
were  as  good  as  blind  where  innovation  was  in- 
volved. But  certain  it  was  that  we  began  the  busi- 
ness of  turning  cheap  grain  into  dear  meat,  now 


A  Lord  of  Lands.  175 

pretty  much  universal,  in  these  parts.  Two  heads 
are  better  than  one,  even  if  one  of  them  is  a 
sheep's  head,  and  better  than  two  heads  are 
sixteen  heads,  or  thirty-two  heads,  I  should  say, 
for  we  always  took  counsel  of  our  women,  and 
they  were  ever  apt  in  suggestion,  if  not  firm  in  deci- 
sion. We  got  our  thirty-two  heads  together  as 
soon  as  we  saw  what  a  great  lot  of  corn  we  were 
going  to  have,  and  resolved  upon  a  course  which 
seems  very  obvious,  now,  but  was  far  from  that, 
then,  since  it  sheered  abruptly  away  from  the  path 
of  precedent.  Who  were  we  to  be  striking  out 
across  untrod  fields,  in  search  of  a  short  cut  ? 

But  while  no  farmer  raised  meat  to  sell,  every 
farmer  raised  the  meat  for  his  own  use,  and  here 
again  circumstances  played  strongly  into  our  hand. 
This  meat  was  almost  invariably  pork,  and  a  part  of 
the  equipment  of  each  place  was  a  brood  sow,  bring- 
ing up  a  litter  of  pigs  for  her  master's  barrel.  It 
would  have  been  cheaper  for  the  master  to  buy 
young  shoats,  as  many  as  he  needed,  but  a  farmer  is 
affected  by  inertia  fully  as  strongly  as  the  next 
man,  and  what  custom  has  been  it  will  be,  more 
likely  than  not.  If  you  had  taken  the  trouble  to 
prove  to  any  of  our  friends,  by  an  appeal  to  figures, 
that  he  would  better  buy  shoats,  instead  of  keeping 
a  brood  sow,  he  would  no  doubt  scratch  his  head 
and  make  answer  that  there  had  to  be  a  hog  about 
to  eat  up  the  garbage,  and  never  think  of  departing 
from  the  good  old  way.  But  we  were  not  quarrel- 
ing with  a  custom  which  was  to  put  money  in  our 
pockets.     The  fact  stood,  and  we  were  content  to 


176  A   Lord  of  Lands. 

let  it,  that  every  farmer  had  a  brood  sow,  and  that 
she  had  a  Htter  of  pigs  every  year.  If  the  family 
were  large  and  hearty,  they  might  eat  as  many  as 
three  pigs,  and  I  doubt  if  the  average  family  ate 
more  than  two.  But  no  sow  was  in  the  least  to 
be  governed  in  the  matter  by  the  needs  of  the 
family.  Almost  always  she  had  more  pigs  than 
were  called  for,  usually  five  or  six,  sometimes  ten, 
or  even  fifteen,  and  once,  I  remember,  a  very 
enterprising  mother-hog  brought  forth  nineteen. 
Of  course,  with  a  litter  at  every  place,  there  was 
a  perfect  glut  of  young  shoats,  until  they  were  to  be 
had  very  cheap.  We  could  buy  any  number  of 
thrifty  pigs,  six  weeks  old,  for  a  dollar  a  head,  and 
we  could  pay  for  them  with  our  labor,  and  it  was 
almost  like  finding  them.  We  bought  and  we 
bought,  picking  the  best,  until  we  had  eighty  of  the 
briskest,  sturdiest  little  fellows  you  could  ask  to 
see.  We  had  to  stop  with  eighty  for  the  lack  of 
a  place  to  put  them.  We  had  plenty  to  feed  them 
with,  but  there  was  a  defect  of  warm  shelter.  With 
the  bits  of  board  left  over  after  the  houses  were  done, 
and  nondescript  lumber  fashioned  out  of  the  trees  we 
had  grubbed  up,  and  straw  which  we  could  have  in 
abundance  for  the  trouble  of  hauling  it,  we  managed 
to  get  up  a  hovel  for  each  family,  and  that  was 
the  best  we  could  do  without  going  to  great  expense 
for  material,  which  we  shrank  from  doing,  with 
the  outcome  still  uncertain.  We  were  advised  not 
to  attempt  to  keep  more  than  five  hogs  in  one  pen, 
and  so,  with  the  sixteen  pens,  we  were  restricted 
to  eighty  head,  all  told.     We  felt  an  uneasiness  as 


A   Lord  of  Lands.  177 

to  being  able  to  keep  our  stock  warm  the  first 
winter,  and  yet,  with  all  the  vaunted  improvements 
we  have  made  since,  I  have  it  to  say  that  we  have 
never  succeeded  better.  A  cow  is  equal  to  a  small 
stove  in  the  heat  she  disperses,  and  hogs  will  mass 
themselves  together  in  the  snuggest  fashion,  and 
provided  only  they  have  a  dry  floor  and  plenty  of 
litter,  there  is  no  fear  of  their  suffering,  whatever 
the  cold. 

Those  eighty  pigs  ate  a  great  hole  in  our  store  of 
corn,  and  waxed  broad  and  fat.  We  kept  them  till 
the  month  of  March,  and  by  that  time  there  was 
none  of  them  which  would  not  go  two  hundred- 
weight, or  better.  Some,  very  thrifty,  and  gifted 
with  an  ingenuity  for  getting  the  best  of  everything, 
w^eiit  near  three.  Sixteen  of  the  largest  and  best 
carcasses  we  kept  and  salted  down  for  our  own  eat- 
ing, and  sixteen  we  kept  for  breeders,  and  the  rest 
we  hauled  to  the  shambles,  in  the  city.  They 
brought  us  six  hundred  and  a  few  odd  dollars,  and 
we  were  satisfied. 

And  right  here,  since  I  shall  have  no  fitter 
occasion,  I  will  testify  that  a  hog  is  not  by  nature 
an  unclean  animal,  but  very  much  the  contrary. 
His  habits,  if  he  can  have  his  own  way,  are  cleaner 
than  those  of  any  other  domestic  animal,  not  even 
excepting  the  horse,  concerning  whose  loftiness  of 
character  w^e  hear  much.  I  have  known  a  hog  to 
carry  straw  in  his  mouth,  from  the  wet  corner  where 
his  careless  owner  had  thrown  it,  to  a  dry  corner, 
to  make  himself  a  clean  bed  of  it,  and  I  have  known 
a  hog  to  wear  his  hoofs  down  to  the  quick,  with 


178  A   Lord  of  Lands. 

scratching  his  scanty  litter  into  a  heap  that  should 
keep  him  out  of  the  muck.  The  five  pigs  given 
over  to  my  family  and  me  to  raise  were  all  white, 
with  the  pink  of  health  glowing  delicately  through, 
and  we  conceived  such  an  admiration  for  them  that 
we  resolved  to  keep  them  from  becoming  soiled, 
let  the  trouble  be  what  it  might.  It  proved  almost 
no  trouble  at  all,  for  we  had  little  more  to  do  than 
give  them  a  chance,  and  they  kept  themselves 
clean,  as  if  they  took  a  pride  in  it.  When  the 
time  came  for  them  to  be  sold,  we  went  to  the 
length  of  scrubbing  them,  with  soap  and  warm 
water,  to  the  considerable  amusement  of  some,  but 
it  came  to  pass  that  when  those  pigs  got  to  market, 
they  fetched  the  top  price,  and  called  forth  no 
end  of  complimentary  remarks  by  their  respectable 
appearance,  and  then  there  was  less  disposition  to 
make  light  of  our  zeal. 

But  there  was  a  dark  side,  though  I  hesitate  to 
speak  of  it,  lest  in  a  practical  generation  I  fail  of  the 
sympathy  without  which  I  shall  be  but  hardly  under- 
stood. Among  those  five  pigs  of  ours,  there  was  a 
certain  barrow  rarely  endowed  with  discretion.  The 
children  singled  him  out  at  once,  and  made  much 
of  him,  bestowing  upon  him  the  name  of  Ingomar. 
Ingomar  would  follow  us  about  like  a  dog,  and  even 
come  into  the  house,  if  he  was  let,  quite  without 
impropriety,  as  it  seemed  to  me,  although  it  gave 
Ludovika  great  scandal,  and  provoked  her  to  iron- 
ical remarks  very  foreign  to  her  nature,  touching  the 
supposed  practices  of  the  Irish.  Ingomar  could 
discourse,  in  his  way,  and  was  very  fond  of  it.     We 


A  Lord  of  Lands.  179 

could  never  speak  to  him  but  he  would  answer  us, 
and  the  variety  of  tone  which  he  had  at  his  com- 
mand for  different  occasions  was  something  to 
wonder  at.  We,  that  is,  the  children  and  I,  found 
much  amusement  in  imagining  to  ourselves  what 
the  pig  had  it  in  mind  to  say  to  us.  While  I  have 
no  quarrel  with  those  who  deny  that  beasts  think, 
this  much  I  will  make  bold  to  say,  knowing  it  full 
well,  that  where  a  man  has  a  feeling  for  them,  he 
falls  easily  into  the  way  of  attributing  to  them  a 
power  of  thought,  and  believes  he  gets  to  under- 
stand them.  Very  likely  he  is  mistaken  in  this, 
but  at  all  events  it  is  an  innocent  fiction,  and  it  serves 
the  not  contemptible  purpose  of  making  the  beasts 
more  interesting  and  companionable.  I  looked  up- 
on myself  as  little  better  than  an  assassin,  the  day 
we  inveigled  Ingomar  into  the  wagon,  to  be  carried 
away  to  the  butcher,  especially  since  I  never  knew 
him  more  sweetly  reasonable  and  accommodating. 
The  girls  cried  bitterly,  and  I  could  have  cried,  too, 
I  was  that  penetrated  with  regret.  It  is  a  hard  thing 
to  meditate  the  death  of  the  trustful  animal  which 
you  taught  to  believe  you  his  friend,  and  herein  lies 
the  great  difficulty  of  stock-raising,  for  me,  and 
especially  with  swine  is  there  the  appeal  that  wins 
my  love.  If  these  are  despised,  I  am  sure  it  is 
because  they  are  not  known  for  what  they  really 
are,  but  rather  for  what  man's  indifference,  or 
worse,  has  made  them. 

I  should  mention  the  melons  of  our  first  year,  for 
they  were  notable.  The  autumn  frosts  kept  their 
distance  until   September  was  well  spent,   and  all 


i8o  A  Lord  of  Lands. 

the  vines  ripened  their  fruit,  excepting  a  few  which 
were  sprung  from  seed  sent  us,  by  way  of  compli- 
ment, by  our  member  of  Congress,  or,  rather,  by 
the  general  government  at  his  instigation.  We  were 
puffed  up  by  the  attention,  not  knowing  how  cheap 
it  was,  and  felt  bound  to  accord  those  seeds  dis- 
tinguished consideration,  which  we  did  by  giving 
them  place  where  the  soil  was  stout,  and  the  sun 
struck  down  most  favorably.  We  expected  great 
things  of  them,  and  in  one  respect,  at  least,  we  were 
not  disappointed,  for  the  foliage  of  the  plants  w^as 
something  prodigious,  as  large  and  rank  as  pump- 
kin leaves.  But  they  took  their  time  about  getting 
forward.  When  the  other  vines  were  ripening  fruit, 
these  w^ere  just  blossoming,  and  when  at  last  the 
frost  came  and  killed  them,  their  melons  were  only 
beginning  to  form.  I  asked  Neighbor  Tucker  one 
day  how  he  accounted  for  this  singular  outcome, 
and  here  is  his  answer,  as  nearly  as  I  can  recall 
it: 

"  Huh !  Them  there's  Georgy  melons,  made  to 
grow  where  it's  summer  'bout  all  the  year  round. 
Them  fellers  down  tew  Washin'ton,  they  don't 
know  a  great  sight  more'n  the  law  'lows,  by  Heck. 
Think  of  them  a-sendin'  Georgy  watermelons  up 
here  where  there's  frost  ev'ry  dod-gasted  month  in 
the  year  'cept  July,  an'  sometimes,  b'gosh,  in  July. 
They  send  me  their  pesky  seeds  ev'ry  year,  an'  I 
jest  throw  'em  in  the  fire.  Wouldn't  dare  feed  'em 
to  the  chickens,  for  fear  of  what  might  be  in  'em. 
Never  think  o'  plantin'  of  'em." 

Tucker  was  not  altogether  just.     The  best  lettuce 


A   Lord  of  Lands.  i8i 

we  ever  raised  was  from  seed  sent  us  by  our  mem- 
ber of  Congress. 

We  ate  all  the  melons  we  could,  and  revelled  in 
the  luxury  of  an  endless  supply  of  that  which  we 
had  always  deemed  almost  too  good  for  us,  not  to 
speak  of  the  delight  of  the  fresh,  crisp  flesh  instead 
of  the  wilted,  sodden  substance  of  the  cold-storage 
fruit,  but  with  all  our  amazing  enterprise  in  that 
direction,  we  had  melons  left,  mountains  of  them, 
and  these,  rather  than  see  them  rot,  we  resolved  to 
haul  away  to  the  city  and  sell,  for  whatever  they 
would  fetch.  I  doubt  if  we  should  have  made  out 
much,  perhaps  not  enough  to  repay  our  trouble, 
only  that  we  fell  in,  almost  at  once,  with  an  artful 
grocer,  who  took  a  fancy  to  inquire  into  our  cir- 
cumstances, and  hit  upon  the  plan  of  advertising 
our  melons,  with  a  considerable  flourish,  as  the 
genuine  Fairhope  Melons,  from  the  celebrated  Fair- 
hope  Farms.  This  was  downright  pomposity,  to 
say  no  worse  of  it,  but  it  did  not  hurt  the  sale  of 
the  melons,  and  we  could  console  our  consciences 
with  the  assurance  that  the  truly  high  quality  of 
our  goods  mitigated  the  deceit.  If  the  public 
bought  in  the  belief  that  the  Fairhope  Melons  were 
something  out  of  the  ordinary,  I  flatter  myself 
they  were  not  necessarily  disabused  of  that  belief 
by  the  eating,  and  if  they  were,  who  were  they  to 
complain  that  their  simplicity  had  been  taken  undue 
advantage  of? 

Our  beans  and  our  onions,  the  former  easy  to 
raise  but  hard  to  harvest,  the  latter  hard  to  raise 
and  easy  to  harvest,  these  rendered  a  good  account 


1 82  A   Lord  of  Lands. 

of  themselves,  but  nothing  that  could  be  called 
brilliant.  They  sold  readily  enough,  for  they  are 
staple  articles  of  food  and  always  in  strong  demand, 
but  we  perceived  that  they  were  distinctly  of  the 
things  which  everybody  raised,  every  year,  which 
meant  that  there  was  no  promise  of  great  profit  in 
them.  Novelty  was  the  sign  we  had  to  conquer  by, 
and  it  was  encouraging  to  reflect,  in  view  of  the 
tendency  of  farmers  generally,  and  especially  born 
farmers,  to  follow  the  rut,  that  novelty  was  not  such 
a  hard  thing  to  achieve,  even  by  people  who  knew 
no  more  of  the  art  of  agriculture  than  we  did. 

You  w^ill  wonder,  I  daresay,  how  we  got  to  know 
enough  of  the  art  of  agriculture  to  do  even  the 
simple  things  I  have  recorded,  let  alone  the  more 
abstruse  things  we  thought  of  doing,  since  we  began 
with  knowing  absolutely  nothing.  Well,  as  to  that, 
there  were,  first  and  foremost,  the  thirty-two  heads 
which  I  have  mentioned,  each  bent  on  keeping  its 
eyes  and  ears  open,  and  its  brain  active,  to  see,  to 
hear,  to  bear  in  mind,  all  in  the  humility  of  conscious 
ignorance.  This  realizing  sense  of  our  ignorance 
was  by  no  means  the  least  of  our  equipment.  We 
knew  we  had  everything  to  learn  and  where  any 
fairly  bright  man  knows  that  much,  the  rest  is  com- 
paratively easy.  Whoever  has  met  the  farmer  of  the 
old  school,  and  observed  how  much  he  stood  in  his 
own  light  in  virtue  of  the  notion  that  he  knew  his 
business  and  had  nothing  to  learn,  will  be  able  to 
measure  our  advantage  in  this  respect.  We  went 
to  school  to  anybody  and  everybody  who  would 
deign  to  teach  us,  man,  woman  or  child,  and  there 


A  Lord  of  Lands.  183 

was  no  lack  of  such.  To  say  our  neighbors  were 
glad  to  show  us  puts  the  case  but  mildly.  There 
was  not  a  farmer  within  five  miles  of  us,  I  suppose, 
who  would  not  drop  his  own  work  on  the  instant 
to  come  over  and  tell  us  how  to  do  ours.  This  was 
partly  out  of  sheer  neighborliness,  to  which  all 
honor,  but  partly,  I  think,  out  of  the  pride  of  knowl- 
edge, to  which  all  honor  likewise  and  to  a  certain 
sly  delight  which  wisdom  finds  in  seeing  ignorance 
exposed.  Anyway,  we  got  the  schooling,  more  of  it, 
at  times,  than  we  well  know  what  to  do  with,  for 
there  sprung  up  a  species  of  rivalry  among  the  good 
people,  as  if  they  counted  it  something  to  be  the 
chosen  means  of  enlightening  us,  and  as  no  two  of 
them  ever  agreed  about  anything,  we  were  embar- 
rassed. But  we  soon  discovered  that  whereas  our 
friends  differed  in  doctrine,  they  were  pretty  much 
alike  in  practice,  and,  while  we  listened  to  what  they 
said,  watched  attentively  what  they  did.  We  were 
not  long  learning  as  much  about  the  art  of  agricul- 
ture as  they  knew.  For  the  rest,  we  had  to  go  to 
school  elsewhere,  chiefly  to  our  experience. 

We  procured  all  the  publications  of  all  the  agri- 
cultural experiment  stations,  which  were  to  be  had 
for  the  asking,  and  read  them  faithfully,  as  far  as 
they  touched  our  concerns,  hoping  to  get  something 
out  of  them.  Nor  were  we  altogether  disappointed. 
But  we  found  them  pretty  heavily  weighted  down 
with  science,  and  by  this  I  do  not  so  much  mean  hard 
words  as  the  excessively  orderly  fashion  in  which 
they  would  have  us  go  about  the  commonest  chores. 
They  were  for  weighing  out  a  cow's  rations,  for 


184  A   Lord  of  Lands. 

instance.  Of  course  we  had  no  scales  for  weighing, 
nor  were  we  Hkely  to  have,  for  many  years,  if  ever, 
and  if  we  had  them,  I  question  if  their  use  would 
compensate  the  time  it  would  take,  and  I  am  will- 
ing to  submit  the  case  to  the  cow.  How  to  do  things 
with  the  rude  appliances  which  any  farmer  can  pro- 
vide, that  is  the  point,  rather  than  how  to  do  them 
with  the  perfect  appliances  which  only  a  wealthy 
man  can  command,  and  if  the  pamphlets  did  not 
miss  the  point,  pretty  largely,  then  I  read  them 
wrong. 

"  What  we  want  to  know,"  said  Parkin,  our  chief 
teamster,  an  eminently  practical  man,  but  no  scholar, 
after  he  had  spelled  out  a  fat  treatise  on  how  to 
feed  grain,  only  to  find  the  reward  of  all  his  labor  to 
be  of  the  meagerest  description,  "  is  how  to  make 
an  incubator  out  of  a  soap-box,  and  not  about  the 
proteids  in  a  pig's  swill." 

I  cannot  help  but  agree  with  him.  And  yet  the 
reading  of  the  bulletins,  as  they  were  called,  did  us 
no  harm,  I  am  sure,  unless  it  was  the  Vandeventers. 
They  were  out  of  pocket,  I  know,  but  perhaps  they 
learned  enough  to  make  them  good  of  their  loss. 

The  Vandeventers  were  passionately  fond  of 
honey.  I  have  wondered,  in  a  whimsical  mood,  if 
their  forebears  may  not  have  been  really  and  truly 
bears,  and  their  overmastering  love  of  honey  derived 
through  all  the  countless  generations  that  must  have 
intervened.  But  anyway,  they  were  instantly  caught 
by  a  certain  neat  little  leaflet  which  was  devoted  to 
the  culture  of  bees,  and  had  the  rare  distinction,  be- 
sides, of  being  explicit  in  all  its  directions,  presum- 


A  Lord  of  Lands.  185 

ing  no  previous  knowledge  whatever,  and  of  con- 
descending to  the  level  of  persons  poorer  than  a 
national  bank.  For  my  own  part,  although  I  was 
fascinated  by  the  clear  account  of  the  wonderful 
ways  of  bees,  I  could  not  persuade  myself  that  there 
was  any  profit  in  them,  and  let  the  suggestion  pass. 
But  the  Vandeventers  saw  through  their  appetite  as 
through  a  magnifying  glass,  and  there  was  nothing 
for  them  but  they  would  have  some  bees.  They  pur- 
chased two  colonies,  to  begin  with,  and  they  flour^ 
ished,  as  it  appeared.  The  second  year  the  old 
swarms  divided,  and  we  all  turned  out  to  help  about 
getting  them  hived,  making  a  great  frolic  of  it, 
besides  discovering  that  swarming  bees  do  sting, 
contrary  to  the  assurances  of  authority,  and  when 
the  flowers  of  June  brought  the  bees  their  busy  day, 
there  were  four  colonies  hard  at  work. 

And  hereupon  the  Vandeventers  proceeded  to 
have  what  they  had  ever  longed  for,  hopelessly,  in 
former  days,  but  now,  for  some  several  months,  in 
all  the  ardor  of  anticipation,  namely,  as  much  honey 
as  they  could  eat. 

One  night,  after  we  had  gone  to  bed  and  to  sleep, 
there  ran  a  dire  rumor  through  our  village.  Some- 
body, his  voice  so  choked  with  agitation  that  we 
knew  him  not,  came  pounding  on  our  door,  calling 
us  to  get  up,  for  the  Vandeventers  were  all  dying. 
It  was  a  fearful  message  to  deliver  with  such  sud- 
denness, for  death  was  a  visitor  we  had  never 
thought  of,  and  in  a  pallid  panic  we  hurried  into  a 
few  clothes,  and  went  running  over.  We  found  the 
house  already  full  of  half-dressed  neighbors,  weep- 


1 86  A   Lord  of  Lands. 

ing,  wailing  and  wringing  their  hands,  or  otherwise 
manifesting  their  great  concern.  Just  as  we  were 
coming  up  to  the  front  gate,  a  man  whose  face  we 
could  not  see,  mounted  on  Prince,  the  best  of  the 
team  of  old  fire-horses,  swept  past  us  at  a  tremen- 
dous pace,  and  off  across  the  country  in  the  direction 
of  the  nearest  doctor's  residence,  a  good  ten  miles 
away.  I  thought  with  a  sinking  of  the  heart  how 
that  Prince,  for  all  his  fine  mettle,  must  certainly 
founder  before  he  had  covered  a  mile,  at  that  rate, 
and  then  we  went  in. 

There  appeared  to  be  good  reason  for  all  the 
distress,  and  the  word  of  death  flying  from  lip  to 
lip.  The  Vandeventers,  father,  mother,  and  four 
children,  lay  in  convulsions,  moaning  and  shrieking 
w^ith  pain,  gnashing  and  frothing  frightfully.  The 
first  who  came  to  the  rescue,  attracted  by  their 
piteous  cries,  had  found  them  rolling  about  the  floor, 
utterly  unregardful,  in  their  misery,  of  the  looks  of 
the  thing;  but  as  sufficient  help  arrived  they  w^ere 
lifted  back  into  their  beds  and  covered  up  and  held, 
by  main  strength,  and  that  was  all  anybody  could 
see  to  do,  until  we  appeared  on  the  scene,  and  it  was 
Ludovika,  not  I,  who  saw  more.  I  was  wrung  wnth 
pity  and  terror,  and  as  unhelpful  as  anybody  there, 
but  Ludovika,  how  shall  I  describe  her  calmness  and 
resourcefulness?  Without  a  quaver  she  went 
straight  up  to  Vandeventer  and  asked  him  what  he 
had  been  eating.  The  poor  fellow  seemed  not  rightly 
to  understand  her,  if,  indeed,  he  heard  her.  My  own 
thought  was  that  he  had  been  stricken  with  an  awful 
deafness,  as  by  some  paralysis.     Anyway,  his  only 


A   Lord  of  Lands.  187 

reply  was  to  look  up  at  me,  for  I  had  drawn 
near  likewise,  and  implore  me  to  take  the  gun 
which  I  should  find  ready  loaded  in  the  woodshed 
and  shoot  him  dead  with  it.  I  was  shaken  as  a  reed 
by  the  wind,  but  Ludovika,  quite  undisturbed  by  the 
man's  gruesome  entreaties,  turned  and  put  her 
question  to  the  woman,  and  from  her  she  managed 
to  elicit,  along  with  a  great  deal  of  inarticulate 
gibbering,  the  information  that  they,  the  whole 
family  of  them,  had  eaten  almost  nothing  but  honey 
for  the  last  three  meals,  honey  for  breakfast,  honey 
for  dinner,  and  honey  for  supper,  all  they  could 
swallow.  Ludovika  remarked,  briefly,  that  she  had 
thought  as  much,  and  proceeded  to  rise  to  the 
occasion,  grandly. 

"  Give  them  milk !  "  she  commanded,  with  such 
an  air  of  authority  as  dazed  me,  and  I  doubt  not 
greatly  startled  the  others,  since  none  of  them  had 
ever  heard  anything  of  the  sort  from  that  quarter 
before.  But  a  dozen  sprang  instantly  to  obey,  glad 
enough  to  have  some  confident  suggestion  to  act  on, 
where  hitherto  there  had  appeared  to  be  nothing 
to  do  but  stand  by  and  see  six  human  beings  perish 
most  miserably. 

And  when  the  milk  was  given,  the  effect  was 
magical.  In  a  moment  the  sick  ones  were  out  of 
their  pain,  pretty  weak  yet  by  reason  of  their  furious 
struggling,  but  on  the  whole  apparently  none  the 
worse.  We  left  them  looking  very  foolish,  and 
apprehensive,  withal,  as  if  they  expected  never  to 
hear  the  last  of  it. 

Ludovika,  with  the  modesty  that  is  her  character, 


1 88  A   Lord  of  Lands. 

arrogated  nothing  to  herself,  when  I,  not  a  little 
awed,  asked  her,  on  our  way  home,  how  she  knew 
that  milk  was  the  right  thing. 

"  It's  in  the  Bible,"  said  she,  simply.  "  The  land 
of  promise  flowed  with  milk  and  honey,  did  it  not? 
Well,  that  was  no  accident,  but  a  wise  provision. 
If  the  land  had  flowed  with  honey  alone,  as  some 
would  have  it,  the  children  of  Israel  must  have  died 
of  the  colic,  and  there  would  have  been  an  end 
of  everything.  We  always  drank  milk  when  we 
ate  honey,  when  I  was  a  child.  I  thought  every- 
body knew  about  it." 

In  the  early  morning  hours,  the  doctor  came,  in 
a  lather  of  sweat.  He  laughed  when  he  heard  the 
story,  and  charged  the  Vandeventers  ten  dollars,  or 
at  the  rate  of  a  dollar  for  every  mile  he  had  traveled, 
which  was  no  doubt  his  due,  although  it  was 
Ludovika  who  had  cured  them.  Perhaps  it  was 
only  just  that  they  should  be  mulcted  for  their  folly, 
and  the  needless  scare  they  gave  us.  Anyway,  they 
could  not  complain.  As  for  my  good  wife,  she 
might  have  set  up  for  a  doctor  herself,  after  that, 
such  a  faith  in  her  did  the  neighbors  derive  from  the 
incident. 


CHAPTER  IX. 

In  the  face  of  all  our  prosperity,  though  the  new 
life  we  had  found  here  was  in  every  respect,  whether 
as  regards  body  or  spirit,  and  not  only  in  its 
rich  promise  of  blessings  yet  to  come,  but  as  well 
in  the  blessings  already  vouchsafed,  far  and  away 
a  better  life  than  we  had  ever  lived  before,  will  you 
believe  that  we  all  fell  desperately  homesick,  and 
that  homesickness  it  was  which  brought  our  enter- 
prise nearest  to  failure?  Was  it  not  a  disgraceful 
thing,  and  a  great  reproach  to  our  manhood,  that 
the  most  formidable  obstacle  we  encountered  should 
arise  not  out  of  exterior  circumstances  at  all,  but 
out  of  our  own  pitiful  weakness?  It  seems  an 
amazing,  incredible  experience,  as  I  call  it  to  mind, 
but  there  is  no  denying  the  fact.  In  that  bountiful 
year,  with  nature  all  about  us  singing  her  fullest 
chorus  of  joy,  with  the  helping  hand  of  mankind 
held  out  to  us  from  every  side,  our  hearts  answered 
but  feebly,  at  best,  and  more  often  they  answered 
not  at  all,  but  were  sullen  and  sour  and  silent. 

I  have  often  wondered,  within  myself,  what  if 
our  first  year  had  chanced  to  be,  instead  of  the 
fruitful  year  it  was,  with  everything  coming  to  our 
hand  as  by  enchantment,  one  of  the  years  of  bitter 
trial  which  awaited  us?     Should  we  have  stood  it? 


190  A  Lord  of  Lands. 

Sometimes,  as  I  think  of  our  blubbering  weakness, 
I  am  inclined  to  the  belief  that  nothing  saved  us 
but  the  fate  which  cast  our  lines  in  pleasant  places, 
and  then  again,  I  cannot  say,  after  all,  but  a  touch 
of  the  heavy  hand  might  have  served  to  tone  up  the 
flabby  fiber  of  our  courage,  and  to  marshal  to  our 
support,  if  nothing  better,  the  obstinacy  of  the  brute 
which  will  not  be  driven.  Certain  it  is  there  were 
times  when  but  very  little  was  lacking  to  make  us 
quit  all  the  good  hope  and  go  sneaking  back  to  the 
old  dismal  drudgery  and  despair,  and  that  little  was 
oftener  withheld  by  luck,  if  such  a  thing  there  be, 
than  by  any  virtue  in  us. 

Until  that  day  I  never  knew  in  the  least  what 
homesickness  was  like.  I  had  heard  tell  of  it,  to  be 
sure,  but  I  took  it  for  one  of  the  ills  of  childhood, 
like  measles  or  scarlet  fever,  something  which  never 
attacked  grown  men  and  women  except  as  they 
were  like  children,  weak  and  foolish.  In  fact,  I 
doubt,  now  I  think  of  it,  if  I  ascribed  to  homesickness 
even  so  much  dignity  as  to  class  it  with  the  diseases 
at  all,  any  more  than  lovesickness,  but  rather  viewed 
it  as  a  figment  of  the  fancy,  utterly  unworthy  of 
the  mature  and  balanced  mind.  Perhaps  I  was  not 
mistaken  in  my  lofty  disdain,  but  rather  in  never 
suspecting  myself  of  being,  like  children,  weak  and 
foolish,  and  in  my  mind  none  too  maturely  balanced. 
At  all  events,  I  soon  found  that  this  thing,  whether 
fact  or  fancy,  lay  upon  me  most  heavily,  and  that  it 
was  not  to  be  driven  away  by  any  force  of  will  I 
could  muster,  or  cured  by  any  arts  at  my  command. 
I  was  prostrate  in  spirit,  with  no  power  to  rise, 


A  Lord  of  Lands.  ^9^ 

Ip..!  and  whimpered  and  ''^'"'"[""itZ. 
.elves  with  »»'«  ignominy  11»"  "<  '''»"  '"' 

""tE.  disorder  s.oie  ..,».  "S  in  *«  «f' «f  Jit 

1  i.arl  lie;  heforc  wc  kncw  what  the  mauer 
""'  "Even  a"tert  had  put  out  its  more  marked 
:7mptomrant4s  constLly  making  itseU  mam- 
X  /-^  r.  r  bearine  we  failed  to  identify  it.  As 
S  n'"asTe  L^ourselves  and  one  another  tester 
and  touchier  than  we  should  be,  we  laid  it  to  the 

:toy  weather  which,  however  grateful  to  the  plant  . 
tot  to  be  very  trying  indeed  to  us.  especially  as  i 
^CconJnued  throughout  the  night,  and  nigh 
a   er  night,  for  then  it  banished  sleep  from  ou 

evelds    or  suffered  us  to  snatch  only  a  wink  o. 

^o    of   unrefreshing   doze,    not    to    "'en  'O"  ^hj 

.,.»=  ,vV,irh  it  bred  in  countless  millions  to 

"«""„:     T  i    h'  we..he,  was  en.ngh  »  p.. 

To.,  of  sorts,  b!.  there  was  so^fl^'l^^, 

?:  f  ::i"rortr.:»trrtrro 

;  ith    or  pri..ti.ns.    and    h,    ;>»>„™,J',,''- 

-rsr*:rr:a"i.h:^'rernsh- 


192  A  Lord  of  Lands. 

ing  upon  us,  almost  irresistibly,  the  impulse  to  stop 
right  there  and  then,  drop  everything,  and  go  back. 
We  were  homesick,  and  now  we  knew  it.  There 
was  a  trifling  struggle  against  it,  at  first,  and  then 
we  all  gave  up,  and  let  it  run. 

The  men  had  it  worst.  I  hang  my  head  to  con- 
fess it,  but  less  I  cannot  confess  and  be  just.  The 
women,  for  all  that  we  had  looked  forward  to 
their  being  hard  beset  with  the  longing  for  the  old 
scenes  and  surroundings,  and,  taking  prudent 
thought  of  their  poor  frailty,  had  guarded  especially 
against  it,  now  that  the  hour  of  trial  was  come, 
they  were  more  steadfast  than  ourselves.  Their 
strength  of  resolution  held  us  more  than  once. 
Every  now  and  then  the  men  would  cry  out  that  it 
was  unbearable,  that  they  would  rather  be  dead  than 
suffer  so,  and  they  would  even  take  the  first  steps 
toward  departure,  but  the  women  never  sank  that 
low.  Always,  in  the  extremity,  they  drew  back. 
Is  it  that  a  woman  takes  suffering  as  her  necessary 
portion,  and  has  thus  a  strength  in  the  face  of  trial 
which  men  know  nothing  of?  Or  is  she  by  her  na- 
ture more  heroic,  though  less  blustering?  But  even 
though  I  credit  our  women  with  all  the  great 
quaHties  of  mind  and  heart,  I  have  yet  to  say  that 
our  salvation  was  not  wrought  wholly  by  them. 
For  there  were  the  children.  These,  excepting  Richy 
and  a  few  of  the  older  ones,  escaped  the  infection 
entirely.  The  little  child  is  nearer  nature,  and  finds 
his  best  contentment  in  the  simple  delights  which  are 
of  nature's  own  providing,  and  we  could  not  help 
but   see,    any   of   us,    and   the   women,    of   course, 


A  Lord  of  Lands.  193 

especially,  that  it  would  go  mightily  against  the 
babies  to  be  taken  back  to  the  town,  after  their  deep 
taste  of  rural  life.  A  father  is  only  a  father,  after 
all,  and  even  so  tender  a  consideration  might  not 
have  held  the  men,  but  a  mother  has  no  greater  joy 
than  in  giving  up  to  her  children.  So  the  children 
held  the  women,  I  surmise,  and  the  men  had  to 
submit  and  do  what  was  best  for  them  in  spite  of 
themselves. 

To  be  sure  w^e  rallied,  now  and  again.  I  can 
testify,  sincerely,  that  I  put  forth  my  best  efforts  to 
shake  the  black  dog  off  my  back,  although,  when 
I  add  that  I  failed  in  every  instance,  it  does  not  seem 
possible.  It  is  hard  to  believe,  as  I  have  already 
said,  that  a  man  in  possession  of  all  his  faculties  and 
in  perfect  bodily  health,  can  be  utterly  conquered 
and  cowed  in  such  a  way,  but  it  is  only  too  true.  I 
brought  my  reason  into  play  and  pushed  it  to  the 
utmost  of  its  capacity,  not  the  smallest,  I  flatter 
myself,  in  a  practical  matter,  however  deficient  as 
regards  the  finer  abstractions,  yet  nothing  came  of 
it,  for  as  often  as  I  persuaded  myself  into  some 
measure  of  resignation,  one  thing  or  another  would 
come  up  to  stir  my  feelings  anew,  and  before  the 
floods  pouring  out  of  my  heart,  the  feeble  works 
which  my  head  had  built  were  like  sand  dykes  be- 
fore the  lashing  ocean.  Sometimes  it  was  no  more 
than  a  flash  of  a  dream  that  cut  the  ground 
from  under  my  feet,  sometimes  it  was  a  chance 
word  dropped  by  one  of  the  family,  thought- 
lessly; but  most  often  and  most  powerfully,  I  think 
it  was  the  smell  of  the  coal-smoke  from  the  rail- 
13 


194  A  Lord  of  Lands. 

road.  I  had  worked  for  years  where  locomotives 
were  going  and  coming  all  the  time,  throwing  off 
the  pungent  reek  of  coal  with  every  plunge  of  their 
pistons,  until  the  air  hung  always  heavy  with  it,  and 
long  custom  made  it,  insensibly,  a  part  of  my 
atmosphere.  To  such  a  degree  was  this  true  that 
the  pure  air  out  here  seemed  defective  to  me,  from 
the  first,  but  I  never  minded  much  until  after  the 
homesickness  had  taken  firm  hold  of  me,  and  then, 
one  day,  when  I  was  working  in  the  clearing,  striv- 
ing by  close  engagement  with  outward  labor  to  for- 
get the  woe  within,  it  caught  me.  A  freight  train 
passed,  tossing  out  great  clouds  of  black  smoke  as  it 
toiled  over  the  swells,  and  in  a  moment  the  stiff 
southeast  gale  brought  the  old  smell  to  me.  It  all 
but  took  my  sense  away,  like  the  whifT  of  a  potent 
drug.  There  was  no  man  very  near  me  at  the  time, 
I  am  glad  to  say,  and  no  man  saw  me  throw  down 
my  tools,  or  heard  me  cry  out  that  I  would  go  back 
before  I  was  a  day  older.  I  am  glad,  because  it  was 
a  shameful  thing,  and,  still  more,  because  I  know 
not  what  the  effect  of  it  might  have  been  on  the 
others,  just  at  that  time.  I  reflected  that  there 
would  be  no  train  until  the  next  day,  and  I  thought 
of  walking  as  far  as  the  city,  thus  to  gain  a  few 
hours.  I  reflected  that  my  wife  and  children  would 
have  to  wait  for  the  train  and  would  expect  me  to 
wait  with  them,  and  I  broke  down  and  wept  for 
vexation.  That  will  give  you  some  notion  of  how 
hard  hit  I  was.  I  did  not  weep  long,  nor  did  I 
long  give  myself  up  so  seriously  to  the  purpose  of 
going  back.     But  all  the  time  it  was  a  hard  fight. 


A  Lord  of  Lands.  195 

with  the  issue  trembling  in  the  balance.  I  fixed 
my  thoughts  on  the  things  which  had  made  me 
discontented  with  the  old  life,  and  you  cannot 
imagine  how  trivial  they  seemed  to  me.  I  groped 
about  in  my  memory  for  that  line  of  subsistence 
which  had  terrified  me  so,  and  do  you  know  I  could 
come  to  no  conclusion  so  easily  as  that  I  had  been 
a  great  booby,  to  be  frightened  by  shadows?  My 
thoughts  would  not  stay  where  I  put  them.  They 
would  stray  off,  and  linger  with  the  great  crews  of 
rollicking,  jolly  fellows,  working  at  a  species  of 
play  down  in  the  switch-yards,  with  a  foreman  to 
take  all  the  worry,  and  so  I  fought  the  fight  over 
and  over,  day  after  day,  as  often  as  there  was  a 
southeast  wind  to  blow  me  the  smell  of  the  coal- 
smoke. 

All  the  while  there  hung  over  us  the  great  danger 

that  we  should  fall  out  with  one  another,  in  our 

downheartedness,  and  a  strife  get  itself  engendered 

such  as  should  lead  to  the  worst.     It  is  perhaps  the 

greatest  wonder  of  all  that  we  got  clear  of  this 

danger.     I  cannot  describe  the  situation  better  than 

by  saying  that  we  had  conceived  a  sort  of   spite 

against  one  another,  as  if  each  blamed  the  other  for 

having  got  him  into  a  bad  way,  and  I  have  reason 

to  suspect,  though   happily   I  was   not   fully   alive 

to  it  at  the  time,  that  there  was  an  especial  spite 

against  me,  by  which  I  do  not  at  all  mean  a  settled, 

cherished   grudge,  but   a  touchiness   which   waited 

only  for  the  apt  occasion  to  flame  into  resentment. 

But  I  had  sufficient  insight  of  the  emergency  to 

feel  the  obligation  it  laid  upon  me,  and  the  weakest 


196  A  Lord  of  Lands. 

and  unworthiest  of  men  will  rise,  more  or  less,  to 
his  responsibilities.  It  was  not  that  I  cared  a  great 
deal  about  the  preservation  of  the  colony  any  more, 
such  was  my  own  dejection,  but  at  my  lowest  ebb 
of  glumness  I  was  conscious  of  a  strong  wish  to 
keep  the  peace  intact.  I  put  a  curb  on  my  peevish- 
ness which  while  it  was  far  enough  from  what  it 
should  be,  was  nevertheless  not  in  vain,  I  know. 
More  times  than  a  few  was  I  assailed  with  a  sudden 
gust  of  angry  words,  which  fell  but  little  if  any- 
thing short  of  being  taunts,  and  I  tell  you  the  gorge 
rose  in  me,  after  a  very  human  fashion,  but  I 
crushed  it  down  again,  and  gave  back  the  soft 
answer  which  disarms  wrath,  always  but  once, 
and  that  once  no  vital  harm  came  of  it,  for  it 
was  not  one  of  ourselves  I  flew  out  at,  but 
Tucker.  I  fear  I  vented  more  wrath  on  Tucker 
that  day  than  I  should  if  I  had  not  been  storing 
up,  as  it  were,  the  wrath  which  others  had  pro- 
voked me  to,  and  which  came  gushing  out,  now 
that  the  opening  offered,  in  spite  of  me.  But 
1  was  immensely  ashamed  of  myself,  right  away, 
and  begged  his  pardon  on  the  spot,  in  the  humblest 
terms,  and  he  gave  it,  very  graciously.  We  are 
good  friends,  Tucker  and  I.  He  is  an  old,  old  man, 
now,  and  I  know  he  has  forgiven  me,  for  I  have 
heard  him  say,  within  a  few  days  past,  that  he 
long  since  forgave  everybody. 

There  were  consolations.  Be  well  assured  of 
that.  Every  cloud  has  its  silver  lining,  and  ours 
was  no  exception,  I  believe.  At  any  rate  it  was  not, 
so  far  as  it  concerned  me.     I  have  to  speak  mostly 


A   Lord  of  Lands.  197 

of  my  own  experience,  for  I  have  ever  felt  a  delicacy 
about  asking  the  others  as  to  theirs,  the  v^^hole  busi- 
ness being  confessedly  such  that  it  v^ere  better  for- 
gotten. But  hov^ever  rightly  we  are  ashamed  of 
it,  and  heartily,  it  remains  a  great  fact  in  our 
history,  and  not  to  be  left  out  of  a  truthful  account, 
and  so  I  come  to  the  consolations.  In  particular. 
I  mind  the  fair  mornings,  what  a  blessing  they  were 
to  me,  when  the  sun  shone  brightly,  but  without  the 
fierceness  of  the  noontide,  and  the  sky  had  all  the 
tender  aspect  of  having  just  waked  from  refreshing 
sleep,  with  a  face  as  sweet  to  look  upon  as  the  face 
of  a  little  child  new  washed,  and  the  soft  air  lay 
still  upon  the  moist  earth,  and  the  grass  dripping 
with  dew,  or  the  lingering  drops  of  the  night 
shower.  Out  into  the  midst  of  these  lovely  things 
I  used  to  go  alone,  except  for  Pal,  our  dog,  whom 
1  was  more  than  pleased  to  have  along  by  reason  of 
his  joy  setting  me  a  worthy  pattern,  and  gather 
courage  for  the  day.  Here  there  was  none  of  the 
aspect  of  sadness  for  me  to  look  upon.  All  was 
instinct  with  life,  and  all  life  was  glad.  There  was 
no  holding  out  in  gloom  against  such  a  conspiracy 
of  glee,  and  before  I  knew  it,  I  was  lifted  up  out 
of  the  shadows  into  the  light. 

Never,  while  I  live  and  have  my  senses,  shall  I 
hear  the  song  of  the  meadow  lark  without  thinking 
of  those  mornings  of  solace  long  ago,  or  without 
feeling  something  of  the  magical  uplift  which  it, 
almost  more  than  any  other  circumstance,  gave  me 
in  that  hour  of  my  great  need.  There  is  many  a 
fine  singer  among  our  birds,  and  every  man  will 


198  A  Lord  of  Lands. 

have  his  own  taste  but  to  my  notion,  the  meadow 
lark  is  first  and  foremost.  One  naturahst,  whose 
book  I  have  read,  says  of  the  meadow  lark's  song 
that  it  is  so  sweet  it  smacks  of  affectation,  and  that 
may  hurt  it  for  the  delicate  ears  of  some,  but  for 
my  part  I  am  troubled  with  no  suspicion  of  affecta- 
tion on  the  part  of  the  birds.  The  meadow  lark 
sings  a  real  song,  not  a  cry  or  a  whistle,  but  a 
melody,  full  of  feeling.  Nor  does  he  seem  to  me 
to  sing  the  same,  always,  as  most  bird  songsters  do, 
but  rather  to  vary  his  witching  cadences^  improvis- 
ing, as  if  in  answer  to  his  changing  moods,  in  a 
manner  no  less  than  opulent.  I  call  him  a  coior- 
atur  singer,  with  diffidence,  because  I  cannot  be 
sure  that  I  know  the  real  meaning  of  the  term,  and 
even  Elizabeth  confesses  that  it  somewhat  eludes  her 
likewise,  being  of  such  a  technical  character.  At 
all  events  he  deserves  as  good  an  adjective  as  there 
is  in  the  dictionary. 

But  after  all,  the  effect  would  be  pretty  thin  with 
no  birds  to  sing  except  meadow  larks.  Never  was 
the  use  of  the  chorus  better  illustrated.  Every 
voice  had  its  part,  even  to  the  harsh  twittering  of 
the  English  sparrows.  Not  one  could  be  spared 
and  have  the  wondrous  concert  right.  There  were 
the  blackbirds,  especially,  a  vague  designation, 
inasmuch  as  there  are  a  thousand  different  kinds 
of  blackbirds,  I  daresay,  which  gathered  in  flocks 
in  the  tops  of  the  highest  trees,  uttering  each  his 
monotonous,  plain  little  lay,  in  greeting  to  the  re- 
turning sun.  They  were  like  a  great  choir  rendering 
a   chant.      Sometimes,   after   an   uncommonly   bad 


A   Lord  o(  Lands.  199 

night,  I  would  rise  very  early,  as  day  was  breaking, 
perhaps,  and  then  the  music  of  the  birds  had  still 
another  charm,  with  the  singers  just  waking,  and 
piping  up  softly  and  uncertainly  here  and  there,  as 
if  consulting  among  themselves  whether  or  not  it 
was  really  time  to  be  up,  but  getting  steadily  surer 
of  their  ground,  and  pouring  out  their  congratula- 
tions more  and  more  volubly,  until  as  the  sun  swept 
grandly  up,  in  his  regal  splendor,  from  behind  the 
hills,  and  there  came  billowing  over  the  earth  the 
flood  of  his  red  warmth,  a  perfect  torrent  of  melody 
burst  out,  and  for  the  moment  it  was  as  if  I  had 
never  known  what  sadness  was. 

Nor  should  I  omit  from  the  catalogue  of  my 
consolations  the  demure  little  turtle-dove,  though 
she  was  no  singer,  who  had  her  nest  in  the  low 
crotch  of  a  tree,  only  a  step  or  two  from  the  house, 
where  my  good  fortune  discovered  her  to  me  one 
morning,  as  she  sat  hatching  her  eggs  with  motherly 
constancy.  It  seems  a  little  thing,  but  who  can 
say  what  pound  turns  the  scale?  Only  the  good 
Lord  who  marks  the  sparrow's  fall  knows  how 
much  this  humble  bird  and  her  nesting  there  had  to 
do  with  my  salvation.  The  turtle-dove  is  about  the 
timidest  of  all  creatures,  but  the  maternal  instinct 
will  overcome  every  other  sentiment,  even  fear, 
and  sitting  over  her  eggs  my  lovely  friend  would  let 
me  come  up  and  look  her  in  the  face,  with  never  an 
impulse  to  fly  away,  and  I  have  not  the  words  to 
tell  you  how  sweet  and  pretty  she  was,  in  my  eyes. 
I  fell  desperately  in  love  with  her,  which  her  hus- 
band seemed  to  get  some  notion  of,  for  he  shunned 


200  A  Lord  of  Lands. 

me,  and  fluttered  about  uneasily,  and  from  a  distance 
complained  of  me,  whenever  I  came  near  the  nest. 
It  was  no  very  safe  place  for  her  to  be  sitting,  and 
defying  all  danger,  and  I  made  it  my  business  to 
keep  watch  over  her.  Once  I  came  up  just  in  time 
to  see  Blisko,  our  stately  Maltese,  looking  hard  at 
that  very  tree  and  lashing  his  tail  in  a  manner  to 
betray  malignant  purposes,  and  I  promptly  cuffed 
his  ears,  though  he  was  a  good  friend  of  mine,  too. 
Whether  he  meditated  evil  of  a  specific  nature,  or 
was  only  thinking  of  prey  in  a  general  way,  I 
cannot  say,  but  it  was  better  to  be  sure  than  sorry, 
and  I  more  than  suspect  that  my  interposition  was 
not  untimely.  Anyway,  the  old  dove  was  not 
molested,  and  she  hatched  her  two  little  squabs, 
and  brought  them  up  in  the  way  they  should  go,  and 
when  the  business  was  done  to  their  satisfaction, 
they  all  flew  away,  and  while  I  daresay  they  re- 
mained in  the  vicinity,  I  had  no  way  of  identifying 
them,  or  of  giving  them  further  proof  of  my 
gratitude  for  the  comfort  they  afforded  me. 

The  varieties  of  birds  to  be  seen  and  heard  here- 
abouts are  countless,  or  seem  so,  to  my  rude, 
unscientific  observation,  but  I  have  an  interest  in 
them  all,  and  love  nothing  better  than  to  discriminate 
them,  and  name  them  with  their  common  names. 
Herein,  let  me  say,  I  differ  from  Ludovika,  who 
recognizes  but  three  sorts  of  birds,  namely,  big 
birds,  little  birds,  and  hawks.  She  has  come  to 
single  out  hawks  with  some  particularity  for  the 
reason  that  they  threaten  the  welfare  of  her 
chickens,  and  thus  constitute  themselves  an  object 


A   Lord  of  Lands.  201 

within  her  horizon,  otherwise  I  doubt  if  she  would 
know  a  hawk  from  a  crow,  or  even  from  the 
proverbial  handsaw,  with  the  wind  southerly.  But 
she  will  not  admit  that  I  have  any  the  advantage 
of  her. 

"  A  child,"  says  she,  "  gets  more  enjoyment  out 
of  nature  than  anybody,  and  do  you  find  him  stop- 
ping to  pry  into  the  why  and  the  wherefore?  Don't 
tell  me  that  the  fun  is  all  in  pulling  nature  to 
pieces  to  see  what  she  is  made  of." 

Time  was  when  I  scoffed  at  this  view,  but  now 
I  am  not  so  sure.  I  am  not  so  sure  but  we  minute 
observers  miss  the  thrill  of  broad,  unconscious 
impressions,  with  but  a  poor  compensation  in  the 
satisfaction  of  puzzling  out  some  mystery.  But 
if  you  are  made  with  that  bent,  Avhat  are  you  going 
to  do  about  it? 

About  always,  on  those  morning  excursions  of 
ours,  Pal  would  make  out  to  involve  himself  in 
some  diverting  adventure.  He  was  a  dog  of 
mixed  lineage,  a  circumstance  which,  as  far  as  I 
have  been  able  to  discover  in  a  long  and  intimate 
and  sympathetic  association  with  dogs,  adds  to  rather 
than  detracts  from  the  breadth  of  their  understand- 
ing. He  had  a  passion  for  digging  after  the  little 
ground  squirrels,  and  I  could  not  wonder  at  that,  for 
there  is  a  volume  of  defiance  and  challenge  in  their 
loud  whistling  as  they  scuttle  off  into  their  holes. 
Never  to  my  knowledge  did  he  overtake  one,  as 
was  only  to  be  expected,  since  he  had,  or  thought 
he  had,  to  scoop  out  a  hole  two  feet  broad  for  him- 
self, whereas  the  squirrel  could  escape  through  a 


2oa  A  Lord  of  Lands. 

tunnel  less  than  two  inches  wide,  but  his  ardor 
abated  not  for  that.  Possibly,  for  all  his  intelligence, 
he  had  not  the  faculty  of  comparing  the  paucity  of 
results  with  the  wealth  of  effort,  or  it  might  be, 
and  to  this  view  I  am  rather  inclined,  he  had  a 
wisdom  above  man's,  and  knew,  in  his  doggish  way, 
that  happiness  lies  more  in  pursuit  than  in  the 
attainment,  in  the  anticipation  more  than  the  pos- 
session. Once  upon  a  time,  we  came  suddenly 
across  a  skunk,  just  returning  to  his  burrow  after  a 
night  of  it,  digging  for  beetles  in  the  sod  or  perhaps 
raiding  somebody's  chicken-coops,  and  Pal,  with 
a  gallantry  which  we  had  reason  presently  to  repent, 
sprang  on  him  and  laid  him  dead  with  a  shake,  but 
not  until  the  animal  had  wreaked  a  signal  vengeance 
on  the  both  of  us.  We  fetched  home  with  us  such 
an  odor  that  even  homesickness  was  for  the  time 
being  forgotten  in  the  powder  and  pungency  of 
the  new  sensation.  I  had  to  bury  my  clothes  to 
freshen  them,  and  Pal  w^as  banished  from  near 
association  with  human  kind  for  a  number  of  weeks, 
very  much  to  his  chagrin.  My  heart  warms  as  I 
think  of  Pal,  what  a  dear  good  fellow  he  was,  and 
the  unselfish  love  he  bore  us  all,  how  deserving 
it  is  of  a  tribute.  It  was  his  peculiarity,  and  by  it 
he  added  his  bit  to  the  gaiety  of  nations,  that  he 
could  not  bark  without  pointing  his  nose  straight  up, 
and  his  utterance  was  much  assisted  if  he  raised 
himself  an  inch  or  so  off  his  fore  feet  with  each 
ejaculation.  This,  I  am  told,  is  the  mark  of  good 
Highland  descent  among  dogs,  a  sign  of  genuine 
collie  blood. 


A   Lord  of  Lands.  203 

Elizabeth  accuses  me  of  rambling,  and  I  plead 
guilty.  But  will  you  not  forgive  me,  when  I  tell 
you  it  is  hard  for  me  to  choose  among  these 
memories  flooding  over  me,  to  say  that  some  shall 
go  in  and  become  matters  of  history,  while  others 
shall  stay  out  and  be  forgotten. 

The  human  nature  is  variously  weak,  and  you  can 
never  foretell  what  circumstance  will  fortify  it.  If 
a  prophet  had  assured  us  beforehand  that  we  should 
be  cured  of  our  homesickness  only  when  one  of  us 
had  definitely  succumbed  to  it,  his  word  would  have 
been  as  scantily  believed  as  word  of  prophet  ever 
was.     Yet  so  it  turned  out. 

The  sacrifice,  for  such  he  might  be  considered, 
the  scapegoat  who  went  back  into  the  wilderness 
vvith  the  sin  of  our  weakness  on  his  head,  was 
Brown,  the  barber.  He  held  out  till  late  in  the  fall, 
against  the  common  affliction,  and  then  he  gave  in. 
We  were  come  now  to  the  season  of  comparative 
idleness,  and  that  had  its  depressing  effect.  More- 
over, there  had  been  a  flurry  of  snow,  enough  to 
vx^hiten  the  ground  and  lay  the  aspect  of  wintry 
loneliness  and  desolation  over  the  landscape,  as  if 
nature  had  gone  ofT  to  bed,  leaving  us  men  to  our 
own  poor  company  and  all  the  while  there  was  not 
to  be  put  away  the  thought  of  the  town,  wide  awake 
and  fuller  of  sparkling  life  than  ever,  with  the 
Christmas  season  drawing  on.  It  was  mighty  near 
being  too  much  for  all  of  us,  and  it  was  quite  too 
much  for  Brown.  Late  one  gray  afternoon  (we 
had  had  no  glimpse  of  the  sun  for  three  or  four  days, 
and  this  may  well  have  been  the  straw  which  broke 


204  A  Lord  of  Lands. 

the  camel's  back)  he  made  a  sorrowful  round  of  all 
the  houses  and  told  us  he  was  resolved  to  go  back, 
come  what  might  of  it,  and  he  cried  like  a  baby, 
partly  out  of  relief  at  having  the  suspense  over  with, 
and  partly,  to  do  him  justice,  out  of  a  lingering 
wish  to  stay  with  us.  He  confessed  that  he  had 
been  writing  to  friends  in  the  east,  bemoaning  his 
sad  situation,  and  they  had  taken  pity  on  him,  and 
bestirred  themselves  to  find  somebody  willing  to 
purchase  his  place  in  the  colony,  and  pay  him 
enough  for  it  to  convey  him  back  to  his  old  home. 
Somebody  had  been  found,  and  he  had  sold  his 
birthright  for  seventy-five  dollars,  a  mess  of  pottage 
indeed. 

When  Brown  came  to  our  house,  last  of  all,  as 
if  he  had  a  reluctance  about  telling  me,  it  was 
bedtime,  and  I  could  do  nothing  that  night,  even  if 
I  had  known  anything  to  do,  which  I  did  not,  fur- 
ther than  to  stew  and  fret,  wondering  what  next, 
for  now  that  there  was  a  break  in  our  ranks,  the 
battle  took  on  a  very  different  look.  Would  not 
others  be  thrown  into  a  panic  by  Brown's  defection, 
and  follow  him,  though  they  knew  he  was  leading 
them  to  destruction?  All  summer  long  we  had 
trembled  on  the  verge  of  flight,  and  now  one  of  us 
had  taken  to  his  heels  and  was  running  away.  If  an 
army  will  break  in  battle,  and  brave  men  follow  after 
cowards  in  headlong  retreat,  what  better  was  to  hap- 
pen us?  All  night  the  thought  lay  upon  me,  and  I 
sweated  in  agony,  for,  behold,  I  was  no  longer  home- 
sick. It  seemed  to  me  now  that  I  would  die  in  my 
tracks  before  I  would  go  back.   Happen  what  might, 


A   Lord  of  Lands.  205 

I,  at  least,  would  never  go  back,  I  vowed  to  myself, 
with  a  clenching  of  the  fists  and  a  setting  of  the 
jaws.  But  what  was  I  to  do  if  all  the  rest  went 
flocking  after  Brown  ?  Who  was  to  pay  the  money 
we  had  borrowed?  Could  I  do  it  alone?  And  if 
it  were  not  paid  back,  what  would  Jones  Baring 
think  of  me?  I  tried  to  persuade  myself  that  others 
would  be  found  glad  to  take  the  places  of  all  who 
might  desert,  just  as  somebody  had  been  found 
to  take  Brown's  place,  but  I  could  not  be  blind 
if  I  would.  To  supply  the  defection  of  one 
member,  with  the  rest  standing  firm,  was  a  vastly 
easier  thing  than  to  supply  a  general  defection 
which  should  in  itself  advertise  the  project  a  failure. 
When  morning  came,  a  dull,  late  morning,  with 
leaden  clouds  filling  the  sky  like  trappings  of  mourn- 
ing, it  found  me  pretty  much  beat  out.  Never  once 
did  it  enter  my  head  that  the  others  might  have 
been  affected  as  I  was,  and  likewise  cured  of  their 
homesickness,  never  once  until  I  went  out  among 
them,  in  fear  and  trembling,  leaving  my  breakfast 
untasted,  by  which  you  will  know  how  anxious  and 
wrought  up  I  was.  I  was  prepared  to  entreat 
them,  to  promise,  to  go  down  on  my  knees,  but 
none  of  these  had  I  to  do.  I  was  back  home,  in 
less  than  half  an  hour,  attacking  my  breakfast 
with  the  utmost  zest,  though  it  was  none  the 
better  for  having  waited,  for  now  my  heart  was 
at  ease  once  more  and  my  stomach  free  to  assert 
itself.  I  had  not  seen  tliem  all,  by  any  means,  but  I 
had  seen  enough  to  be  assured  that  we  were  safe,  and 
that  Brown's  break,  far  from  leading  to  the  dreadful 


2o6  A   Lord  of  Lands. 

consequences  I  had  feared,  had  saved  us.  It  ex- 
hibited our  common  weakness  carried  out  to  its 
last  fooHsh  phase,  and  we  were  heartily  ashamed 
of  ourselves.  Nobody  had  the  faintest  wish  or 
inclination  to  follow  him.  Everybody  had  been 
troubled  with  the  very  anxiety  which  had  assailed 
me,  and  kept  me  stewing  and  fretting  all  night. 
A  great  light  had  descended  upon  us,  and  dis- 
covered us  to  ourselves,  how  that  we  wished 
above  all  things  not  to  go  back,  and  the  possi- 
bility that  we  might  be  forced  to  go  back,  present 
to  the  minds  of  all  until  we  had  come  together 
in  the  morning  and  found  how  we  stood,  was 
ugly  enough.  For  my  own  part,  I  shouted  like 
a  glad  schoolboy,  as  I  sat  at  my  breakfast,  telling 
Ludovika  about  it,  and  whereas  I  had  felt  a 
resentment  toward  Brown,  as  if  he  had  done  me 
an  injury,  I  had  nothing  but  pity  for  him  at 
last. 

He  was  an  object  of  pity,  indeed,  poor  fellow,  and 
we  all  felt  sorry  for  him,  especially  the  day  he 
left.  The  complete  revulsion  of  feeling  which  his 
surrender  had  brought  about  in  the  rest  of  us, 
found  a  feeble  reflection  in  himself,  and  he  was 
very  wretched  and  uncertain,  though  he  had  made 
his  bed,  as  it  were,  and  there  was  nothing  to  do 
but  lie  in  it.  I  hope  he  found  better  days,  but  I 
fear  not.  It  is  perhaps  the  saddest  of  all  thoughts, 
to  me,  that  some  men  are  born  to  be  forever 
prostrate,  elected  to  a  species  of  destruction,  and 
nothing  will  save  them.     May  God  grant  them  in 


A   Lord  of  Lands.  207 

another  world  the  place  of  light,  refreshment  and 
peace  which  they  can  never  know  in  this. 

Of  course  I  had  not  forgotten  what  Jones  Baring 
said  about  this  unfortunate  man,  though  knowing 
nothing  of  him  further  than  that  he  was  descended 
from  many  generations  of  native  stock,  yet  was 
very  poor,  and  now  I  saw  it  in  a  different  light. 
Thoroughbred  cattle  may  be  the  best,  as  some  con- 
tend, but  thoroughbred  people,  by  which  I  mean 
people  whose  blood  is  all  derived  from  one  race,  are 
another  matter.  If  people  were  being  bred  for  some 
particular  trait,  as  Jerseys  are  bred  for  milk  and 
Durhams  for  meat,  it  would  be  right  to  keep  the 
strains  unmixed,  but  inasmuch  as  we  seek  rather  a 
balance  of  many  traits,  what  is  more  likely  than 
that  a  pretty  free  mingling  of  the  races  is  necessary 
to  the  best  results? 

Because  I  am  deeply  convinced  on  this  point,  and 
am  willing  to  justify  myself,  I  am  going  to  turn 
aside,  just  here,  to  introduce  you  to  a  certain  family 
of  three  brothers,  all  of  whom  live  within  a  day's 
journey  of  our  village.  They  are  Canadian  French, 
of  the  purest  extraction,  born  in  Quebec,  where,  in 
virtue  of  traditional  animosities,  there  has  been  no 
intermarrying  with  other  nationalities  for  centuries. 
No  people  are  without  their  faults,  and  I  mean  no 
disrespect  when  I  say  that  the  Canadian  French,  as 
I  have  found  them,  while  a  most  kindly  race,  gay, 
sweet  of  temper,  hospitable  and  generous,  have 
none  the  less  a  strong  tendency  to  be  unthrifty, 
intemperate  and  indolent.  These  three  brothers  are 
quite  of  their  kind. 


2o8  A  Lord  of  Lands. 

Now  it  came  to  pass  that  the  oldest  of  them 
married  a  Yankee  girl,  who  is  herself  a  thorough- 
bred. Her  family  boasts  of  having  descended  from 
Roger  Williams,  and  they  have  a  fine  old  Bible  to 
prove  it,  but  for  all  that,  they  are  of  the  sort  of 
farmers  who  are  content  to  raise  more  weeds  than 
grain.  In  fine,  here  are  parents  who  are  nothing 
to  brag  of,  at  best,  but  behold,  they  have  raised  up 
a  great  family  of  children  who  are  remarkable  for 
their  enterprise  and  energy  and  integrity,  worthy 
men  and  women  all  of  them. 

The  third  brother  has  done  well,  too.  His 
children  are  considerably  younger,  and  have  them- 
selves to  prove  finally,  but  they  are  a  likely  lot,  as 
everybody  admits.  And  who  and  what  is  his  wife? 
A  German  girl,  whom  he  engaged  to  marry  sight 
unseen,  before  she  had  left  the  old  country,  and 
who  looked  an  indifferent  bargain  when  she  arrived, 
being  none  too  bright,  if  the  truth  is  to  be  told. 

But  the  second  brother  espoused  a  damsel  of 
his  own  race.  Gabrielle,  her  name,  and  I  knew 
her  well,  for  she  was  Mrs.  Tucker's  hired  girl  for 
some  time  prior  to  her  marriage.  She  was 
sprightly  and  pretty,  her  suitors  were  numberless, 
and  when  she  bestowed  her  hand  at  last,  the  man 
she  chose  was  looked  upon  as  uncommon  lucky. 
But  she  has  made  him  the  father  of  a  brood  of 
v/orthless  sons  and  daughters,  too  lazy  and  too  stu- 
pid even  to  learn  to  read,  and  that,  I  should  say,  is 
about  the  limit  of  failure,  with  a  good  school  at 
every  man's  door. 

It  shows  what   crossing  will   do,   if  I   am  any 


A  Lord  of  Lands.  209 

judge  of  the  weight  of  evidence,  although  I  do 
not  deny  that  many  other  elements  enter,  a  great 
part  of  which  we  can  know  nothing  of.  Jones 
Baring's  cross  of  Irish  and  German  stocks  is  no 
doubt  excellent,  but  there  are  others  just  as  good, 
as  witness  the  Frenchman  with  the  Yankee  wife, 
or  the  Frenchman  with  the  German  wife.  Is  it 
not  a  great  comfort  to  consider  how  the  petered-out 
thoroughbreds  of  all  the  races  are  pouring  into  our 
great  country,  to  renew  themselves  by  this  process, 
so  wonderful,  yet  so  simple  and  commonplace? 

It  is  such  a  great  comfort  to  me,  and  inspiration, 
that  I  cannot  forego  a  short  flight  on  the  wings  of 
fancy. 

The  real  American  (such  is  my  belief),  the 
American  of  history  as  it  will  be  written  a  thousand 
years  hence,  is  not  yet  born.  He  is  in  the  making, 
and  we  are  all  of  us  helping  to  make  him.  Just 
now  our  population  is  like  a  great  hodge-podge  of 
many  ingredients  thrown  together  in  a  caldron, 
boiling  and  boiling,  with  the  scum  all  the  time  rising 
to  the  top  and  floating  off,  and  all  the  time  a  residue 
of  solid  good  collecting  at  the  bottom,  to  form  some 
day  the  finest  race  of  mankind  that  has  ever  trod  the 
earth.  This  I  am  sure  of,  because,  so  far  as  I  am 
able  to  learn,  the  powers  that  rule  human  destinies 
have  never  before  assembled  such  a  vast  profusion 
of  material  from  which  to  forge  a  new  race.  So 
I  say,  let  them  come,  many  men  of  many  kinds, 
each  with  his  measure  of  good,  be  it  more  or  less, 
to  add  to  the  great  sum  of  good  which  our  American 
shall  have  in  him.  If  some  temporary  incon- 
14 


2IO  A  Lord  of  Lands. 

venience  comes  of  it,  what  could  be  more  patriotic 
than  to  endure  it  patiently,  in  view  of  what  is  to  be 
gained  by  it? 

But  Elizabeth  will  have  it  that  you  are  more 
concerned  with  what  I  have  done  than  with  what  I 
think,  and  I  daresay  she  is  right.  At  all  events  I 
am  disposed  to  come  back  to  earth. 

Now  that  we  of  the  colony  were  put  in  a  better 
frame  of  mind,  in  the  way  I  have  related,  we  were 
more  candid  with  ourselves  and  one  another,  and 
looked  our  situation  more  in  the  face,  as  it  were. 
We  were  aHve  to  the  danger  of  relapse,  especially 
with  the  winter  coming  on,  and  the  dreariness  in- 
cident to  the  season,  and  we  resolved  to  take  such 
precautions  as  we  could.  Especially  were  we  deter- 
mined not  to  let  idleness  add  its  part  to  our  difficul- 
ties, and  that  was  how  we  came  to  take  up  the  busi- 
ness of  cutting  cordwood  and  railroad  ties  in  the 
tamarack  swamps.  These  swamps  stood  all  about 
us,  some  not  above  three  or  four  miles  away, 
offering  an  endless  supply  of  timber,  such  as  it 
was,  unsuitable  for  lumber  where  pine  was  at  all 
cheap,  but  having  a  considerable  value  nevertheless. 
Tamarack  wood  sold  for  three  dollars  a  cord  in  the 
city  sixteen  miles  away,  and  the  ties  were  worth 
twenty-five  cents  apiece  delivered  at  the  siding,  and 
we  thought  we  could  see  money  in  it,  saying  noth- 
ing of  the  profit  we  should  derive  from  keeping 
busy  all  winter,  since  that  was  not  to  be  figured  in 
dollars  and  cents. 

The    neighbors    advised    us    against    it.     They 
stuck  at  the  price  it  was  necessary  to  pay  for  the 


A    Lord  of  Lands.  211 

stnmpage,  as  they  called  the  standing  timber.     The 
owners  of  the  land,  who  lived  at  a  distance,  were 
avaricious,  as  some  men  have  a  way  of  being,  and 
they  must  have  their  dollar  for  every  cord  we  cut, 
and  by  that  the  neighbors  insisted  that  there  was 
nothing  in  it   for  us.     But  we  detected  what  we 
privately  set  down  as  a  flaw  in  their  calculations, 
and  it  was  this,  that  they  took  it   for  granted  a 
man  might  better  be  loafing  than  working  for  less 
than  fifty  cents  a  day.     We  had  different  notions, 
and  said  to  ourselves  we  should  be  well  content  if 
we  did  so  well,  for  fifty  cents  a  day  for  each  of  us 
would  come  to  a  tidy  sum  in  the  course  of  the  four 
frozen  months  during  which  we  could  do  nothing 
else.     Anyway,  we  could  not  lose,  and  so  we  went 

at  it. 

We    took    up    with    the    nearest    swamp    first, 

naturally,  and  we  managed  the  going  and  coming 

in  such  a  way  that  we  had  every  minute  of  the  short 

winter  day  for  work,  except  the  few  minutes  we 

knocked  off  for  dinner,  which  we  carried  out  with 

us,  or,  if  the  weather  was  so  cold  we  could  not  keep 

the  food  from  freezing,  for  any  length  of  time,  had 

it  brought  out  to  us  about  noon.     One  of  us  was 

detailed  to  stay  at  home  during  the  day,  to  attend 

to   the   stock   and   the   chores   which   were   not   fit 

for  the  women  to  do,  a  different  man  for  every  day, 

by  which  arrangement  we  gave  ourselves  a  respite 

of  one  day  every  two  weeks,  or  what  we  called  a 

respite.     As  a  matter  of  fact,  there  was  not  one  of 

us  who  did  not  greatly  prefer  to  go  with  the  gang 

into  the  swamp  and  chop  all  day,  but  of  the  thmgs 


212  A  Lord  of  Lands. 

that  had  to  be  done,  each  of  us  took  what  fell  to 
him,  never  stopping  to  ask  if  he  liked  it  or  not.  It 
astonished  us  to  find  how  easy  the  new  work  was, 
once  we  had  settled  ourselves  to  a  determination 
to  go  through  with  it,  and  we  could  not  help  but 
compare  it  with  the  grubbing  which  had  seemed 
so  hard.  While  the  two  forms  of  labor  had  much 
in  common,  the  circumstances  were  entirely  dif- 
ferent. Swinging  an  ax  in  the  tingling  cold  air  of 
winter  was  not  much  like  swinging  it  in  the  heat 
of  early  summer,  though  it  was  the  same  ax  in 
both  cases.  But  more  than  anything  else,  our  late 
visitation  of  the  black  dog  lent  a  zest  to  the  labor 
which  should  be  the  means  of  banishing  him.  We 
were  on  our  guard  against  worry  in  any  form. 
Whoever  showed  any  the  least  fretfulness,  no  matter 
what  the  occasion,  or  how  much  it  justified  him, 
he  had  the  rest  of  us  down  on  him  instantly,  to 
have  it  out  with  him  then  and  there,  and  badger 
him  until  he  was  glad  to  give  up  and  be  good.  It 
was  a  grand  discipline.  We  were  like  so  many 
brothers  of  about  an  age,  and  by  this  I  mean  not 
the  seraphic  brothers  you  read  about  sometimes, 
who  weep  on  one  another's  neck  and  protest  their 
love,  but  real  flesh  and  blood  brothers  who  help  to 
bring  one  another  up,  and  by  their  scant  respect 
for  any  manifestation  of  childishness  make  men  of 
one  another.  I  look  back  upon  that  first  winter  in 
the  swamps  as  one  of  the  pleasantest  periods  of 
a  life  not  lacking  in  pleasant  periods.  Have  you 
ever  had  the  good  fortune  to  smell  tamarack  when 
it  is  green  and  freshly  bruised?     If  you  have  not. 


A  Lord  of  Lands.  2 1  '^ 

I  can  give  you  no  adequate  idea  of  it,  how  spicy 
and  sweet  it  is.  With  a  dozen  or  more  of  us  hack- 
ing away  all  the  time,  we  were  like  priests  in  the 
midst  of  an  incense,  our  nostrils  constantly  com- 
forted with  the  delicious  savor.  We  had  such  fine 
times  out  there,  that  the  women  conceived  an  envy, 
and  spoke  seriously  of  coming  out  and  taking  their 
part,  but  of  course  this  was  not  practicable.  There 
would  be  scant  fun  for  such  as  came  for  nothing 
else.  The  fun  was  incidental,  and  that  was  what 
made  it  fun. 

To  swell  our  abundant  good  fortune,  the  sleigh- 
ing was  excellent,  a  piece  of  luck  which  we  did  not 
then  appreciate  at  its  full  worth,  not  being  aware 
as  yet  how  very  rare  a  thing  excellent  sleighing 
is  in  this  country,  for  all  it  is  such  a  cold  country, 
partly  because  of  the  winter  being  with  us  the  dry 
season,  and  partly  because  of  the  winds,  which  will 
seldom  let  the  snow  lie  where  it  falls,  but  must 
whirl  it  into  towering  heaps  until  the  roads  are 
neither  for  wheeling  nor  sleighing,  what  with  the 
alternation  of  bare  spots  with  deep  drifts.  But  as 
it  chanced  that  winter,  the  first  heavy  fall  of  snow 
came  on  a  mild  day  and  was  largely  mingled  with 
rain,  and  the  frost  tightening  strongly  as  the  skies 
cleared,  a  crust  of  solid  ice  w^as  formed  which 
defied  the  wind  and  the  sun  and  the  wear  and  tear 
of  trafific  until  well  into  March.  The  falls  which 
followed  drifted  much  in  the  usual  way,  and 
embarrassed  us  somewhat,  but  at  worst  there  was 
no  bare  ground,  and  the  rest  was  to  be  gotten  over 
somehow. 


214  A   Lord   of  Lands. 

The  significance  of  the  good  sleighing  was  that 
the  three  teams,  which  we  kept  steadily  at  work 
hauling,  could  carry  two  cords  each,  on  sleds, 
whereas  a  single  cord  of  the  heavy  green  wood, 
on  wheels,  would  be  the  limit  of  a  load.  The  three 
together,  carrying  thus  six  cords  in  all,  brought  back 
with  them  the  very  decent  matter  of  eighteen  dol- 
lars, and  only  six  dollars  to  be  counted  out.  They 
did  not  attempt  to  go  to  the  city  oftener  than  every 
other  day,  lest  it  prove  too  much  for  the  horses,  and 
there  was  enough  to  do  on  the  odd  days,  what  with 
hauling  such  ties  as  we  had  ready  down  to  the 
siding  and  getting  themselves  loaded  up  for  an 
early  start  on  the  longer  trip.  But  at  that  it  was 
no  such  work  as  inferior  horses  would  have  carried 
through,  or  even  the  best  of  horses,  without  the 
perfect  care  which  our  teamsters  knew  how  to 
give  them. 

The  ties  were  almost  too  much  trouble  in  the 
making  to  be  worth  while,  as  compared  with  the 
cordwood,  which  was  next  to  no  trouble  at  all, 
until  our  carpenters,  turning  their  art  to  account 
once  more,  hit  upon  a  way  of  splitting  off  the  slab 
with  wedges,  obviating,  in  that  way,  the  great 
labor  of  dressing  down  with  axes.  It  is  a 
peculiarity  of  tamarack  that  the  grain  is  ordinarily 
straight,  in  that  part  of  the  trunk  which  is  large 
enough  to  make  a  tie  of,  and  this  circumstance 
greatly  assisted  the  process,  until  we  were  able  to 
turn  out  a  very  acceptable  tie  without  much  hewing, 
and  with  a  clean  slab  to  go  into  the  pile  of  cord- 
wood,  instead  of  a  wastage  of  splinters  and  shav- 


A  Lord  of  Lands.  I15 

ings.  Inasmuch  as  we  paid  such  a  great  price  for 
the  stumpage,  it  behooved  us  to  save  every  scrap. 
Even  the  spHnters  and  shavings  which  we  could  not 
avoid  making  were  not  lost,  though  they  brought 
us  no  money,  for  we  took  them  home  for  fuel. 
For  the  time  being,  with  the  oaks  we  had  grubbed 
out  lying  everywhere  about,  this  looked  like  carry- 
ing coals  to  Newcastle,  and  got  us  railed  at,  in  a 
kindly  way,  by  the  less  provident  neighbors.  But  we 
were  used  to  thinking  of  fuel  as  something  precious, 
and  we  had  not  to  look  far  ahead  to  see  the  end 
even  of  such  profusion  as  we  were  in  the  midst  of. 
Some  of  us  were  that  smitten  with  parsimony  that 
they  went  in  for  burning  the  very  twigs  of  the  trees, 
but  it  soon  appeared  there  was  no  profit  in  that,  for 
the  housewife  who  should  feed  her  fire  with  twigs 
would  have  no  time  left  to  feed  her  family.  In 
justification  of  our  economy  I  will  say  that  we  had 
wood  to  burn  long  after  the  farmers  about  us  were 
having  to  buy  coal  for  their  fires,  though  it  is  long, 
now,  that  we,  too,  have  been  burning  coal. 

We  came  out  of  the  winter  in  excellent  temper, 
and  that  was  the  main  thing.  The  black  dog  was 
banished  for  good  and  all.  As  for  the  material 
gain  by  our  enterprise,  it  was  not  contemptible, 
either.  For  when  the  first  day  of  April  came  round. 
and  our  interest  fell  due,  we  counted  up  and  found 
we  had  not  only  enough  to  meet  that  obligation, 
but  a  comfortable  bit  over.  This  we  put  away  in 
the  bank  in  the  city,  as  a  sinking  fund  against  the 
principal  of  our  debt,  or,  rather,  since  we  were 
not  adept  enough  in  finance  to  be  thinking  of  sink- 


21 6  A   Lord  of  Lands. 

ing  funds,  as  something  against  the  rainy  day. 
We  could  not  expect  to  be  always  as  prosperous  as 
we  had  been  hitherto,  for  while  we  had  had  trouble 
enough,  it  was  none  of  it  put  upon  us  from 
without.  After  the  experience  of  many  years  we 
can  understand  much  better  how  highly  we 
were  favored  in  our  beginnings,  but  even  in  the 
time  of  it,  we  understood  it  sufficiently  to  be  think- 
ing of  worse  things,  in  a  prudent  mind.  It  was 
too  beautiful  to  last,  and  we  were  none  of  us 
beguiled  into  thinking  otherwise,  though  we  were 
by  no  means  cast  down,  but  rather  stung  with  a 
great  fortitude  and  willingness  to  encounter  what- 
soever adversity  should  be  in  store  for  us. 

Only  they  who  live  in  a  cold  country  can  know 
all  the  sweetness  of  spring's  awakening.  It  is  here 
that  nature's  sleeping  comes  near  indeed  to  the 
aspect  of  death,  and  her  waking  to  that  of  resurrec- 
tion. They  talk  of  spring  in  the  south,  and  no 
doubt  think  it  spring,  but  what  can  they  know  of 
spring  who  have  no  winter,  more  than  they  know 
of  joy  who  have  no  sorrow,  or  of  day  who  have  no 
night?  Up  here  with  us,  after  all  the  bitter  cold, 
it  seems  no  less  than  a  miracle  when  life  comes 
pulsing  back  into  the  trees  and  the  herbs,  and  we 
could  hardly  be  gladder  if  some  loved  one  mourned 
for  dead  had  risen  from  the  grave. 

It  was  well  for  us  that  our  spirits  ran  high.  For 
under  our  unsuspicious  feet  there  was  gathering  a 
great  calamity. 


CHAPTER  X. 

That  first  summer,  with  its  dismal  mugginess, 
and  how  dismal  it  was,  except  for  such  feeble  and 
reflected  joy  as  could  be  derived  from  the  joy  of 
the  plants,  which  revelled  in  it,  I  have  no  words 
sufficient  to  describe,  mightily  favored  the  insects, 
too,  a  circumstance  to  which  I  have  already  made 
passing  reference.  There  were  more  kinds  of 
insects  in  the  air  than  you  could  count,  and  millions 
upon  millions,  it  would  seem,  of  each  and  every 
kind,  or,  at  all  events,  of  the  troublesome  kind.  I 
never  acquired  such  a  comprehensive  fondness  for 
nature  and  all  her  works  that  I  could  highly  stomach 
insects  or  reptiles,  especially  the  latter,  which  send 
a  shock  of  terror  to  my  heart  by  the  mere  sight  of 
them,  even  though  I  know  them  to  be  harmless, 
as  all  the  reptiles  we  have  here  are,  and  this  I 
reckon  not  least  among  the  blessings  which  a  bounti- 
ful Providence  has  showered  upon  us,  for  I  would 
not  wish  to  live  in  the  garden  of  Eden  itself,  if 
I  had  to  share  it  with  a  rattlesnake,  or  a  viper,  or, 
that  horror  of  all  horrors,  a  python.  I  cannot  see 
any  kind  of  a  snake,  even  the  innocent  garter 
snake  which  is  as  good  a  friend  of  man  as  half  the 
creatures  more  highly  thought  of,  but  I  have  an 
almost  irresistible  impulse  to  bruise  its  head,  perhaps 


21 8  A  Lord  of  Lands. 

out  of  the  old  grudge  that  comes  down  to  the  seed 
of  the  woman,  but  more  likely,  I  suspect,  out  of  an 
instinct  of  self-defense  inherited  from  some  distant 
age  when  reptiles  were  more  formidable.  As  for 
insects,  I  deem  them  in  some  sort  the  near  cousins 
of  snakes,  since  they  are  for  the  most  part  worms  of 
a  later  growth.  Elizabeth  assures  me  I  am  wrong 
in  esteeming  worms  to  be  reptiles,  but  I  find  upon 
consulting  the  large  dictionary,  which  I  purchased 
when  I  entered  upon  the  task  of  writing  a  book, 
by  way  of  fortifying  myself,  that  the  word  reptile 
properly  signifies  any  creature  that  crawls,  and  if 
worms  do  not  crawl,  my  eyes  deceive  me,  not  to 
speak  of  my  sense  of  touch,  when  the  vile  things 
get  on  my  neck. 

We  paid  but  slight  attention  to  the  insects,  how- 
ever, beyond  plentifully  reviling  them,  in  general 
terms,  more  especially  the  mosquitoes,  which  rose 
to  such  a  pitch  of  ferocity  and  bloodthirstiness,  I 
daresay  by  reason  of  their  vast  numbers  and  the 
resulting  scarcity  of  food,  that  they  would  bite 
indifferently  as  well  by  day  as  by  night,  in  sun 
as  well  as  in  shade,  until  there  seemed  to  be  no 
escape  from  them;  and  the  gnats,  which  swarmed 
so  thickly  as  to  make  breathing  a  matter  of  some 
risk  and  great  inconvenience;  and  the  deerflies, 
which  drove  the  cattle  to  a  frenzy.  But  along  late 
in  the  summer  there  came  a  bug  which  forced  itself 
upon  our  notice,  little  as  we  were  in  the  mood  for 
seeing  anything  beyond  our  megrims,  and  not  by 
making  itself  disagreeable  either,  but  rather  by  its 
extremely  odd  looks  and  habits.     It  could  both  fly 


A  Lord  of  Lands.  219 

and  jump,  being  furnished  with  stout  wings  for  the 
one  purpose  and  for  the  other  with  wonderful  long 
legs  which  folded  up  like  a  jack-knife,  nor  did  it  sac- 
rifice efficiency  to  versatility,  for  it  could  both  fly  and 
jump  amazingly  well.  This  bug  chose  the  meadows, 
and  the  stubble  where  small  grain  had  grown,  and 
it  rose  in  clouds  from  every  side  as  you  walked 
along,  giving  out  a  rasping  sound,  something  after 
the  style  of  a  cricket.  It  had  a  queer  way  of  gather- 
ing on  the  handle  of  any  fork  or  rake  which  should 
be  left  in  the  field,  as  if  fancying  the  saltiness  which 
our  sweaty  hands  had  deposited  there,  and  when- 
ever we  took  up  a  tool  which  had  been  visited  in 
this  way,  we  found  the  hard  oak  wood  roughened 
to  the  touch,  showing  that  the  creature's  jaws  were 
strongly  furnished  with  sharp  teeth. 

The  neighbors  called  these  bugs  grasshoppers, 
and  made  nothing  of  them  at  first,  saying  that  there 
were  always  grasshoppers.  But  as  the  hordes  grew 
steadily  thicker  and  thicker,  there  began  to  be  a 
feeling  of  uneasiness,  and  speculation  as  to  what 
might  be  the  significance  of  the  incursion.  Of 
course  there  were  various  theories.  Some,  of  the 
gloomy  kind,  would  have  it  that  these  were  no  other 
than  the  dreadful  seventeen  year  locusts,  the  very 
sort,  we  were  awesomely  informed,  with  what 
authority  I  know  not,  which  plagued  Egypt  in  Bible 
times,  being  sent  to  put  Pharaoh  in  mind  of  his 
w^ickedness.  Others,  inclined  to  the  brighter  view, 
still  insisted  that  the  bugs  were  only  the  ordinary 
grasshoppers,  come  this  year  in  greater  profusion 
than  common  simply  because  the  conditions  were 


2  20  A   Lord   of  Lands. 

uncommonly  favorable  to  them.  Among  these 
latter  Baldwin  was  prominent.  He  had  a  certain 
ascendancy  in  matters  of  opinion  by  reason  of  his 
habitual  reticence,  and  his  positive,  terse  way  of 
speaking  when  he  did  speak,  and  when  he  declared 
that  seventeen  year  locusts  always  had  the  figures 
"  17  "  plainly  marked  on  their  backs,  whereas  the 
backs  of  the  bug  at  hand  were  unadorned  with  mark 
or  symbol  of  any  kind,  I,  for  one,  felt  as  if  Rome 
had  spoken  and  the  cause  was  closed. 

Another  circumstance  we  observed,  and  might 
well  have  taken  warning  from  it,  but  did  not.  Very 
late  in  the  fall,  just  on  the  edge  of  freezing  up,  there 
appeared  in  the  crust  of  the  soil,  now  somewhat  dry 
with  the  abatement  of  the  rains,  a  great  multitude 
of  small  holes,  like  tiny  wells,  as  round  and  as 
clean  cut  as  if  they  had  been  bored  with  a  gimlet. 
Being  more  at  leisure  by  that  time,  and  glad  to 
find  something  to  keep  my  mind  busy,  I  explored 
a  number  of  these  holes,  digging  cautiously  down 
to  see  what  might  be  at  the  bottom  of  them,  and 
found  that  each  held  hundreds  of  little  white 
globules  strung  together  in  some  mysterious  way. 
I  took  them  to  be  eggs,  and  eggs  they  were,  big 
with  dire  fate. 

Long  before  spring,  what  with  all  we  had  to 
fill  our  thoughts,  we  had  forgotten  the  grasshoppers 
entirely,  and  even  the  gnats  and  mosquitoes,  which 
had  given  us  vastly  more  concern,  and  all  the 
mugginess  and  discomfort  of  summer,  and  this,  I 
say,  is  one  of  the  happiest  of  provisions,  that  where- 
as we  finish  a  season  with  something  of  a  loathing 


A   Lord  of  Lands.  221 

for   it,   and   the   feeling   tliat   we   should   be   most 
pleased  never  to  see  another,  when  the  year  rolls  by 
and  it  comes  again,  we  have  left  with  us  only  the 
memory  of  its  joys,  and  welcome  it  very  heartily. 
There  would  be  vastly  more  hard   feeling   in  the 
world,  and  truly  there  is  enough  as  it  is,  were  it  not 
that  we  forget  bad  weather  so  quickly,  and  remember 
good  weather  so  long.     Well,   this  second  spring 
was  a  very  different  spring  from  its  predecessor,  as 
was  only  to  be  expected,  since  we  are  known  never 
to  have  two  seasons  alike,  a  circumstance  which  has 
given  rise  to  the  subtle  witticism  that  our  weather  is 
always  exceptional.     This  March  was  to  the  last 
a   winter   month,   not,    it   is   true,   with   the   hard, 
intense  winteriness  of  January,  but  winter  still  and 
nothing  else.     On  the  14th  day  of  the  month  there 
fell  two  feet  deep  of  snow,  which  we  thought  from 
the  wetness  of  it  to  see  go  in  a  few  days,  and  yet  on 
the  I  St  day  of  April  it  still  lay  as  it  had  fallen,  hardly 
wasted  at  all,  for  all  the  while  the  air  had  held  at 
the  freezing  point  or  a  very  little  above.     I  never 
saw   snow  betray   such  a   prolonged   reluctance  to 
becoming  water,  which  is  its  inevitable  fate.     But 
the  fortnight  following  the  vernal  equinox  is  apt 
to  be  the  time  of  the  battle  royal  betwixt  winter 
and  spring,  with  winter  in  grudging  retreat,  yielding 
sulkily,  as  the  powerful  are  wont  to  do,  when  they 
are  compelled.     Winter's  warrior  is  the  night  and 
spring's  the  day,  and  now  the  night  has  shriveled 
and  shriveled,  and  the  day  has  w^axed  and  waxed, 
until  the  brave  work  of  the  day  in  spring's  behalf  is 
more  than  the  night  may  undo.    Then  all  at  once 


222  A  Lord  of  Lands. 

there  comes  the  crisis,  when  the  night  is  completely 
worsted,  and  winter  flees,  and  spring  reigns.  On 
the  1st  day  of  April,  as  I  say,  the  snow  lay  as  deep 
as  ever,  though  trembling  on  the  verge  of  disso- 
lution, but  on  the  7th  day  of  the  month,  there  was 
no  snow  to  be  seen  save  here  and  there  the  dirty 
remnant  where  a  heavy  drift  had  lain,  and  we 
plowed  our  gardens  and  planted  our  peas  and  our 
blackseed  onions. 

In  one  sense  we  had  no  spring  at  all,  that  year. 
We  walked  out  of  winter,  and  there  lay  summer 
before  us,  with  no  spring  intervening  to  usher 
us  from  one  extreme  to  the  other.  It  seemed  like 
a  pleasant  dream,  or  a  piece  out  of  a  fairy  story,  it 
was  to  that  degree  more  agreeable  than  anything  we 
had  a  right  to  expect.  Between  the  12th  and  the 
20th  there  ensued  a  hot  spell,  something  untimely 
and  inauspicious,  had  we  known  the  truth,  but 
which  we  accepted  as  a  great  blessing  and  were  glad 
over  it,  and  of  course  it  was  grateful  to  be  suddenly 
sweltering,  after  freezing  for  four  or  five  months. 
As  for  the  vegetation,  it  leaped  forward.  Long  be- 
fore the  first  of  May  the  cows  were  getting  their, 
whole  living  in  the  pastures,  and  disdaining  the  dry 
food  which  we  still  set  before  them,  for  we  could 
hardly  believe  the  new  grass  sufficient,  and  by  that  I 
should  judge  that  the  plant  life  was  three  weeks  and 
perhaps  a  month  in  advance  of  its  usual  progress. 
All  this  bustHng  haste  on  the  part  of  nature  had 
the  effect  of  firing  us  wonderfully,  and  filling  us 
with  a  zeal  to  be  up  and  doing.  Our  old  land  we 
had  plowed  in  the  fall,  excepting  the  home  plots,  and 


A  Lord  of  Lands.  223 

the  fields  lay  ready  for  the  seed  as  soon  as  the 
snow  was  gone.  The  water,  great  flood  of  it  though 
there  was,  vanished  almost  in  a  twinkling,  through 
the  porous  soil,  and  the  land  was  firm  to  the  horses' 
feet,  and  we  sowed  our  wheat. 

We  had  a  great  wish  to  raise  wheat,  and  why, 
I  know  not,  since  it  is  far  from  being  the  most 
profitable  of  crops,  for  light  land,  anyway.  You 
may  figure  it  out  for  yourself.  Twenty  bushels  of 
wheat  to  the  acre  is  a  large  yield,  and  a  dollar  a 
bushel  is  a  large  price,  which  means  that  under 
very  favorable  conditions  wheat  will  bring  you  in 
twenty  dollars  from  each  acre.  But  eighty  bushels 
of  potatoes  is  a  small  yield,  and  twenty-five  cents 
is  a  small  price,  and  at  once  you  have  potatoes 
bringing  you  in  as  much,  under  unfavorable  condi- 
tions, as  wheat  under  favorable.  This  is  in  gross, 
of  course,  and  not  counting  out  the  cost  of  labor, 
which  a  small  farmer  who  hires  no  help  does  not 
much  reckon  with.  Nevertheless,  for  whatever  rea- 
son, or  no  reason  at  all,  we  were  for  wheat.  Per- 
haps it  is  out  of  sentiment,  wheat  being  beyond 
doubt  the  very  king  of  grains,  the  staff  of  life,  the 
corn  of  the  Scriptures,  and  in  respect  of  its  ultimate 
usefulness  incomparably  the  superior  of  potatoes, 
and  the  longer  I  live  the  more  I  am  persuaded  that 
sentiment  sways  even  practical  men,  and  in  the 
most  practical  affairs,  though  it  should  be  uncon- 
sciously. We  needed  a  lesson  or  two,  and  we  got 
them,  with  a  vengeance. 

We  sowed  the  wheat,  and  it  seemed  to  spring  up 
almost  under  our  feet,  what  with  the  warmth  and 


2  24  ^   Lord  of  Lands. 

the  wetness,  and  its  thrift  was  something  to  make 
us  proud  and  happy.  After  the  weather  had  held 
hot  for  a  week  or  ten  days,  there  came  a  cool 
spell,  providentially  sent,  we  could  almost  believe, 
to  make  our  wheat  stool  out  properly.  It  covered 
the  ground  like  a  rich  carpet,  only  with  the  added 
charm  that  it  prefigured  to  our  eager  eyes  a  very 
mine  of  wealth. 

Suddenly,  into  the  midst  of  all  this  fair  prospect, 
came  the  plague,  boiling  up  out  of  the  ground. 
Those  little  wells  in  the  ground  were  the  nests  of 
the  locust,  and  the  locust,  let  it  lack  what  it  might 
in  the  way  of  marks,  was  the  most  dreadful  of  its 
kind,  and  if  Pharaoh  was  as  hard  hit  by  it  as  we 
were,  no  wonder  he  sent  for  Moses  at  once  and 
promised  to  be  good  forever  after.  The  warmth 
which  we  had  called  blessed  was  the  mischief,  for 
it  had  struck  down  into  the  earth  and  hatched  the 
eggs  every  one,  I  daresay,  and  the  young  were 
coming  up,  wingless  yet  and  able  only  to  crawl, 
seeking  what  they  might  devour.  And  now  it 
seemed  as  if  all  the  graciousness  of  the  season  were 
not  for  us  at  all,  but  for  these  vile  vermin.  It  was 
they  that  the  forwardness  had  favored,  with  its 
unwonted  warmth  not  only  to  hatch  them  out,  but 
to  lay  a  great  luscious  feast  ready  for  them,  and 
it  made  us  rage  and  gnash  our  teeth  to  think  that 
whereas  it*  was  promised  to  man,  made  in  the  image 
of  his  God,  that  all  things  should  be  subject  to 
him,  and  for  his  use,  here  we  had  been  made  the 
unwilling  and  unwitting  servants  to  provide,  out 
of  our  own  sustenance,  and  with  toil  and  sweat,  the 


A   Lord  of  Lands.  225 

food  to  feed  these  most  unworthy  and  useless  of 
creatures,  for  you  know  how  men  will  remember 
heaven  when  they  have  something  to  reproach  it 
with,  if  never  otherwhile.  The  grasshoppers  took 
the  wheat  first.  It  was  just  getting  tall  enough  to 
wave  in  the  wind,  and  billow  like  the  bosom  of  a 
lake,  and  its  color  was  the  deep  green  which  verges 
on  blue,  and  betokens  a  mighty  strength  of  sap, 
and  I  doubt  not  it  tasted  good  to  them.  They  swept 
over  it  like  a  consuming  flame,  and  when  they  were 
done  with  it,  there  was  nothing  left,  the  ground  lay 
as  black  and  barren  as  a  desert. 

How  shall  I  hope  to  picture  to  you  the  desolation 
of  that  time?  All  things  went  a  sacrifice,  the  grass, 
the  leaves,  whatsoever  was  green  and  living,  except- 
ing only  some  weeds  which  were  left  as  if  to  mock 
us,  and  still  the  pests  were  not  fed.  The  more  they 
ate  the  hungrier  they  grew.  They  got  their  wings, 
in  due  time,  and  became  all  the  more  efficient  in 
evil,  for  where  they  could  but  crawl,  at  first,  and 
make  but  slow  progress,  they  flew,  now,  as  swiftly 
and  as  strongly  as  birds,  for  miles  at  a  stretch,  in 
clouds  which  darkened  the  face  of  the  day. 
Though  the  greater  part  were  eating  always,  the 
air  was  likewise  full  of  them,  and  you  could  not 
stir  out  but  they  crashed  into  your  face,  hurling 
themselves  upon  you,  by  accident,  I  suppose,  but 
with  all  the  air  of  being  fiercely  minded  to  devour 
you  as  well  as  your  fields.  We  had  everything 
planted,  the  corn,  the  garden  truck,  and  all,  before 
we  received  the  least  intimation  of  what  was 
coming.  The  locusts  left  the  corn  until  they  had 
15 


226  A  Lord  of  Lands. 

finished  the  wheat  and  the  oats  and  the  barley,  and 
even  the  rye,  though  this  was  rather  past  the  soft 
green  stage,  and  in  the  meanwhile,  with  the  condi- 
tions of  growth  so  favorable,  its  stalks  were  mount- 
ing manfully.  I  never  laid  eyes  on  finer  corn,  and 
that  was  true  of  all  the  crops,  as  if  nature,  like 
some  beaming,  hospitable  hostess,  were  outdoing 
herself  to  make  these  vile  guests  welcome,  and  you 
can  imagine  with  what  melancholy  we  saw  it 
doomed.  It  was  coming  to  something  near  its  tall- 
ness  when  the  insects  went  at  it  in  good  earnest, 
and  when  they  left  it  there  was  nothing  to  see  but 
the  hard  stems,  and  even  these  were  hollowed  out 
of  their  soft  pith.  Why  they  left  the  stems  I 
cannot  say.  It  was  not  because  they  had  not  the 
teeth  for  the  service,  because  they  could  bite  into  a 
fork  handle.  The  onions  they  devoured  tops  and 
all,  and  followed  the  slender  rootlets  far  down 
into  the  ground,  having,  as  it  would  appear,  an 
especial  relish  for  this  vegetable,  or  possibly 
resorting  to  it,  as  some  people  do,  with  the 
notion  that  its  strong  juices  stimulate  the  di- 
gestion. Of  the  cabbages  they  left  only  the 
lowest  part  of  the  stem,  and  this  they  hollowed  out, 
as  they  had  done  with  the  corn.  As  for  the  melon 
vines  and  the  squash  vines,  and  all  the  like,  they 
melted  like  mist  before  the  sun,  or  dry  stubble  before 
a  fire.  The  mist  as  perhaps  the  better  parallel, 
because  it  disappears  utterly,  whereas,  of  the  burnt 
stubble,  there  are  at  least  ashes  left.  The  greediness 
of  the  insects,  as  they  came  to  the  end  of  their 
resources,   was  something  incredible.     One  of  the 


A  Lord  of  Lands.  227 

last  of  the  growing  things  they  took  was  the  potato 
vines,  and  it  was  fun,  of  a  grim  sort,  to  see  them 
rob  the  potato-bugs  of  their  accustomed  plunder. 
Thieves  of  this  sort  have  no  honor  among  them,  and 
no  pest  of  the  relatively  leisurely  manner  of  the 
potato-bug  stood  any  chance  that  year.  The  devices 
of  the  grasshoppers  after  their  chosen  food  was 
all  gone  were  various  and  interesting.  I  have  seen 
them  collected  in  a  mass  inches  deep  over  the  spot 
where  the  women  cast  out  their  dish-water,  fighting 
fiercely  with  one  another  for  the  bits  of  food  there 
to  be  found.  A  neighbor  who  lived  near  a  swamp 
had  builded  his  house  of  logs,  and  pasted  old  news- 
papers over  the  cracks  inside.  The  paste  was  made 
of  flour,  and  this  the  bugs  discovered,  in  their  own 
w^ay.  They  wriggled  themselves  through  between 
the  logs  from  the  outside,  though  the  chinks  had 
been  plastered  up  with  clay,  and  devoured  the  paste, 
and  even  the  wood  where  the  paste  had  soaked  in 
a  little,  till  the  papers  fell  to  the  floor. 

Can  you  imagine  a  more  desperate  plight  than 
ours?  It  was  no  figment  of  fancy  we  had  to  deal 
with  now,  but  trouble  only  too  real.  Nowhere 
was  there  left  so  much  as  a  blade  of  grass  for  the 
stock  to  feed  on,  and  nowhere  a  stalk  growing  to 
furnish  them  food  for  the  winter.  To  make  a 
bad  matter  worse,  our  brood  sows  brought  forth 
bountifully,  in  the  very  midst  of  the  calamity, 
afflicting  us  with  near  a  hundred  new  mouths  to 
feed,  and  clamorous  mouths,  too,  though  not  fastid- 
ious. For  awhile  it  looked  as  if  we  had  no  choice 
but  to  kill  both  the  pigs  and  their  mothers,  to  save 


228  A  Lord  of  Lands. 

them  from  starving,  and  by  that  we  would  lose 
them  utterly,  since  their  flesh  was  worthless.  It 
was  true  we  had  corn  left  from  the  previous  year, 
but  we  had  ourselves  to  think  of,  and  with  the 
present  outlook  we  dared  feed  none  of  it  to  the 
beasts.  That  there  was  a  way  out  of  the  difficulty 
I  verily  believe  we  never  should  have  discovered, 
but  for  the  ancient  woman  among  us,  whom  I  have 
spoken  of,  Mrs.  Hoff,  the  mother  of  Mrs.  Krecke. 
She  was  a  shy  old  lady,  greatly  given  to  reading  her 
Bible  and  knitting  at  the  same  time,  and  shunning 
company  except  as  she  could  be  of  service,  which 
was  not  seldom,  for  she  had  a  wonderful  influence 
with  children,  and  could  instantly  soothe  the  fretful 
child  which  its  mother  had  given  up  in  despair.  I 
fancy  she  had  a  most  pure  and  unselfish  heart,  and 
this  the  little  ones  became  aware  of,  in  some  way 
all  their  own.  She  was  withal  rather  a  pathetic 
figure,  born  to  bear  heavy  crosses,  but  bearing  them 
always  bravely.  I  recall  one  of  her  trials  which 
struck  me  as  being  particularly  grievous.  She  could 
never  learn  English,  being  an  old  woman  before  she 
had  occasion,  and  her  grandchildren,  the  rascals, 
with  all  the  partiality  of  children  for  the  vernacular, 
would  never  learn  German.  The  upshot  was  that 
this  old  woman,  except  for  baby  talk  which  is  the 
one  universal  tongue,  could  not  converse  with  her 
children's  children,  and  what  that  must  have  meant 
to  her,  we  who  are  grandparents  need  not  be  told. 
But  I  am  getting  away  from  the  pigs. 

In  the  wake  of  the  pestilence,  the  growing  season 
being  at  its  height,  there  sprung  up  a  great  profusion 


A  Lord  of  Lands.  229 

of  rank,  coarse  weeds.  Some  of  these,  such  as 
the  fox-tail  and  the  purslane,  the  locusts  ate  as 
fast  as  a  leaf  appeared  above  the  ground,  but  some 
they  left,  which  we  wondered  at,  in  view  of  their 
voracity,  but  were  in  no  mood  to  see  anything 
providential  in,  being  rather  inclined  to  take  offense, 
as  if  we  were  being  insulted.  Among  the  weeds 
which  escaped  there  was  a  power  of  red-root,  a 
plant  which  may  well  have  been  the  ancestor,  after 
a  manner  of  speaking,  of  our  garden  beet,  and  of 
the  mangel  wurzel  which  the  cows  are  so  fond  of. 
I  have  a  diffidence  in  asserting  kinship  between 
plants,  since  I  learned  that  the  strawberry  and 
the  rose  are  near  cousins,  than  which  no  two 
strike  me  as  less  aHke,  but  certain  it  is  that  this 
weed  of  which  I  speak  has  a  thick,  sappy  root 
much  resembling  that  of  the  beet.  Now  our 
dear  old  woman,  unwilling  to  believe  that  God 
had  deserted  us,  and  casting  about  all  the  time  for 
some  shred  of  evidence  with  which  to  confirm  her 
faith,  and  being  deeply  touched,  as  who  of  us  was 
not,  by  the  dire  straits  of  the  swine,  with  the 
mothers  drawn  down  to  a  shadow  by  suckling  their 
young  while  having  next  to  nothing  to  eat  them- 
selves, in  a  moment  of  inspiration,  such  as  comes  to 
those  chosen  to  prophesy,  conceived  the  thought 
that  the  weeds  which  the  locusts  passed  by  in  such 
a  strange  way  were  for  a  sign  and  a  salvation. 
Without  saying  a  word  to  anybody,  she  went  out 
one  day  and  pulled  a  great  armful  of  the  red-root 
and  threw  it  over  into  one  of  the  pens,  and  behold, 
the  pigs  ate  it  eagerly.    She  pulled  more,  and  it  was 


230  A  Lord  of  Lands. 

eaten  in  a  like  manner,  and  then  she  came  running, 
with  eyes  aflame  and  her  wrinkled  face  all  flushed 
with  joy,  to  tell  us  about  it.  We  were  more  struck 
with  a  suspicion  that  Mrs.  Hoff  had  gone  wrong  in 
her  mind  than  with  any  conviction  of  merit  in  what 
she  was  saying,  but  we  went  with  her,  and  saw  with 
our  own  eyes,  and  then,  you  will  believe,  we  were 
glad,  too.  We  all  fell  to  and  fetched  weeds  by 
the  armful,  but  still  the  pigs  would  have  more,  and 
at  length  we  hitched  up  the  teams  and  brought 
them  by  the  wagon-load,  and  kept  the  pens  supplied. 
It  was  pretty  meager  diet,  I  confess,  and  not  at  all 
such  as  I  should  advise  except  as  a  last  resort,  but 
the  pigs  made  out  to  live,  and  if  their  backs  stood 
out  rather  sharply  before  the  summer  was  over,  we 
were  given  no  scandal  by  that,  considering  what 
might  have  been.  The  oaks,  meanwhile,  were 
growing  a  good  crop  of  acorns,  in  spite  of  the 
assaults  of  the  locusts,  for  the  oak,  once  firmly 
fixed,  is  a  plant  not  easily  to  be  put  out  of  its  way, 
and  when,  in  the  latter  part  of  August,  the  nuts 
began  to  fall,  we  turned  the  pigs  loose  in  a  great 
drove,  with  the  children  to  herd  them,  and  let  them 
forage  for  themselves.  The  acorns  proved  a 
nourishing  food,  and  the  pigs  were  that  keen  for 
them  they  were  always  on  the  alert  to  hear  them 
drop,  and  when  they  heard  one,  they  would  scramble 
after  it,  a  dozen  of  them  together,  in  the  most 
comical  fashion.  The  young  people  tried  to  fool 
them  by  dropping  pebbles  on  the  ground,  and  fool 
them  they  did,  but  only  once  or  twice,  for  with  that 
slender    schooling    they    learned    to    discriminate 


A  Lord  of  Lands.  231 

nicely  between  the  sound  of  a  pebble  and  the  sound 
of  an  acorn,  and  were  not  to  be  deceived  any  more. 
In  all  that  concerns  him,  a  pig  is  the  wisest  animal 
that  walks  on  four  feet  and  there  are  animals  on 
two  feet,  and  moreover  without  feathers,  that  might 
take  lessons  of  him  with  profit.  In  October,  when 
the  nuts  were  gone,  we  sold  all  the  swine,  young 
and  old,  keeping  none,  and  they  were  in  no  bad 
order,  though  by  no  means  rolling  in  fat.  The 
plague  of  locusts,  spread  far  and  wide,  had  the 
effect  of  glutting  the  market  with  hogs  which  people 
were  left  without  means  of  keeping,  and  by  that 
the  price  was  very  low,  but  we  were  money  ahead, 
withal,  to  say  nothing  of  the  encouragement  there 
was  in  having  in  some  sense  beaten  misfortune. 

While  the  grasshoppers  were  far  and  away  the 
most  destructive  pests  we  had  to  encounter,  they 
had  the  goodness  to  betake  themselves  off,  in  time, 
and,  what  was  more,  for  good  and  all,  and  that  was 
truly  a  redeeming  trait,  giving  them  a  virtuous 
distinction  among  pests,  which  are  commonly  peren- 
nial, and  not  less  sure  than  those  standard  examples 
of  certainty,  death  and  taxes.  Since  they  had  left 
us  little  else  to  do  but  sit  by  and  watch  them,  we 
got  to  take  a  certain  melancholy  interest  in  their 
progress,  and  we  perceived  that  they  grew  very 
rapidly,  and  we  fell  into  some  speculation  as  to  what 
was  likely  to  happen  when  they  should  have  come 
to  their  maturity.  Two  opinions  sprang  up,  as  usual, 
the  opinion  of  hope  and  the  opinion  of  despair. 
The  sanguine  of  us  held  that  inasmuch  as  the  old 
locusts  of  the  previous  year  had  come  flying  from 


232  A  Lord  of  Lands. 

a  distance,  seeking  a  place  to  lay  their  eggs,  these, 
their  children,  arrived  at  the  breeding  age,  would 
likewise  seek  fresh  fields  and  pastures  new,  their 
instinct  informing  them  that  the  lands  which  they 
had  devastated  were  less  likely  to  provide  their 
progeny  with  food  than  lands  as  yet  unvisited. 
Those  of  the  gloomy  temper,  on  the  other  hand, 
were  not  to  be  persuaded  but  that  the  pests  intended 
staying  right  where  they  w^ere,  to  breed  year  after 
year,  until  the  country  should  be  laid  waste  as  with 
fire  and  sword,  beyond  recovery,  and  be  henceforth 
a  desert.  Such,  these  latter  argued,  for  curiously 
enough  they  were  the  more  religious  members  of 
the  colony,  was  the  usual  operation  of  the  curses 
which  a  just  God  sent  to  punish  sinful  man,  and 
assuredly  we  were  not  entitled  by  our  shining 
virtues  to  claim  any  exemption.  But  Mrs.  Hoff, 
the  most  religious  of  all,  and  the  one  coming  nearest 
to  carrying  her  religion  into  her  practice,  was  of  the 
sanguine  party.  "  God  is  good,"  she  would  say,  as 
often  as  anybody  asked  her  what  she  thought  about 
it,  and,  prophetess  that  she  was,  she  was  right. 
When  the  locusts  were  fully  grown,  at  last,  except 
for  a  certain  youthful  slimness  of  their  bodies  as 
compared  with  the  old  insects,  they  stopped  eating, 
pretty  much.  They  began  to  let  the  grass  grow 
under  their  feet,  as  it  w^ere,  and  the  leaves  of  the 
trees,  and  we  saw  these  looking  up  perceptibly,  and 
the  joy  of  the  cattle,  which  had  hitherto,  from  the 
descent  of  the  plague,  wandered  up  and  down  the 
blackened  pastures,  searching  vainly  for  the  food 
they   loved,   was   something   to   warm   our  hearts. 


A   Lord  of  Lands.  233 

The  manner  of  the  bugs  underwent  a  complete 
change,  indeed.  They  were  become  wonderfully 
restless,  and  spent  more  and  more  of  their  time 
whirling  aimlessly  about  in  the  air.  Were  they 
getting  ready  to  breed,  or  to  fly  away?  It  was  a 
moment  of  tremendous  suspense.  For  my  own  part, 
the  wish  rather  than  reason  being  the  father  of  the 
thought,  I  will  admit,  I  took  the  new  activity  of 
the  creatures  to  be  a  propitious  sign.  I  liked  to 
think,  and  to  say,  that  they  were  inuring  their  wings 
to  arduous  service  and  a  long  flight. 

And  I  was  not  mistaken.  The  deHverance  came, 
and  it  came  quickly,  even  as  the  affliction  itself  had 
come.  One  day  the  sky  was  filled  with  grass- 
hoppers, drifting  off  like  a  thick  mist,  and  the  next 
day  they  wxre  gone,  forever.  We  still  have 
grasshoppers,  every  year,  about  harvest  time,  and 
they  gather  on  our  fork-handles  and  roughen  them 
to  the  touch,  but  never  have  they  laid  such  another 
mine  under  our  feet,  or  if  they  have,  it  has  never 
been  sprung.  The  claim  is  plausibly  made  that  the 
insects  find  only  now  and  then  a  year  which,  in  the 
vicissitudes  of  the  weather,  permits  them  to  breed 
prosperously.  A  cold  rain,  for  instance,  falling 
just  as  the  young  begin  to  stir,  will  destroy  them 
all,  and  cold  rains  are  common,  with  us,  in  the 
spring,  and  disagreeable  enough  they  are,  too,  what 
with  being  neither  winter  nor  summer,  but  a  com- 
bination of  the  worst  features  of  both.  But  if  they 
save  us  from  the  plague  of  locusts,  we  can  easily 
forgive  them. 

There  was  time,  even  yet,  to  raise  crops  of  a 


2  34  A  Lord  of  Lands. 

sort.  Turnips  would  come  quite  to  maturity  with- 
in the  six  or  eight  weeks  of  growing  weather  which 
we  could  count  on  with  reasonable  certainty,  and 
these  would  help  to  feed  the  cattle.  Millet  would 
make  something  of  a  growth,  and  supply  us  with 
good  hay,  though  it  should  not  ripen  fully.  In  the 
heavy  soil  we  planted  corn  in  thick  rows,  with  the 
purpose  to  cut  it  green  and  cure  it  for  fodder,  and 
on  the  lighter  soil,  oats,  to  be  cut  green  likewise, 
and  all  these  ventures  turned  out  well.  We  made 
out  to  get  a  good  bit  of  wild  hay,  too,  from  the 
neighboring  marshes.  Of  course,  when  I  say  the 
ventures  turned  out  well,  I  measure  them  by  what 
we  had  a  right  to  expect.  Nothing  gets  a  really 
good  growth,  in  our  country,  unless  it  begins  grow- 
ing in  May,  thus  to  get  the  great  forward  push 
of  June.  Our  situation  was  bad  at  best,  and  could 
only  be  called  good  in  comparison  with  what  it 
might  have  been.  The  locusts  lifted  a  big  load 
from  our  hearts  when  they  rose  and  flew  away, 
and  after  that  almost  any  small  favor  was  fit  to 
move  our  gratitude.  Curiously  enough,  there 
was  never  a  touch  of  the  old  homesickness,  never 
a  word  of  doubt  whether  we  had  not  done  a  foolish 
thing  ever  to  leave  the  town.  In  point  of  fact,  the 
country  was  become  our  home,  now,  and  the  senti- 
ment which  a  few  months  before  had  turned  our 
hearts  away  from  it,  now  bound  us  to  it  as  with 
hooks  of  steel. 

For  the  lack  of  anything  better  to  do,  the  make- 
shift crops  requiring  little  or  no  attention,  and  the 
neighbors,  since  they  were  as  badly  bitten  as  our- 


A  Lord  of  Lands.  235 

selves,  having  no  occasion  to  hire  help,  we  went 
into  the  swamps  early,  long  before  the  ground  froze, 
indeed,  and  found  it  no  pleasant  thing  wading  about 
in  the  treacherous  ooze.  But  we  stuck  to  it,  with 
good  heart,  and  by  the  time  the  frost  had  built  a 
bridge  for  the  horses  to  come  in  over,  we  had  a 
great  pile  of  wood  and  ties  waiting  for  them  to 
haul  it  away.  And  besides  the  wood  and  the  ties, 
we  hewed  out  frames  for  barns,  for  we  were  looking 
hopefully  ahead,  out  of  our  wreck,  to  the  increase 
of  our  stock.  All  of  our  cows  had  brought  forth 
duly  and  creditably,  and  among  the  sixteen  calves 
were  nine  sturdy  little  heifers.  These  we  resolved 
to  keep,  even  at  the  risk  of  having  to  buy  feed  for 
them,  before  grass  should  grow  again.  The  seven 
little  bull-calves,  not  less  sturdy,  we  sold  for  veal, 
and  they  fetched  us  more  than  fifty  dollars,  and 
this  we  set  aside  and  used  to  buy  bran  with,  and 
imagined,  by  a  comfortable  fiction  which  only  simple 
people  could  indulge  themselves  in,  that  the  cows 
were  thus  taking  care  of  themselves,  for  had  they 
not  furnished  the  calves,  and  the  calves  the  money  ? 
We  had  some  of  the  old  corn  still  by  us,  and  a  great 
profusion  of  rough  fodder,  and  there  were  no  hogs 
to  feed,  and  all  in  all  we  got  through  pretty  well.  It 
was  short  commons  for  man  and  beast,  except  the 
milking  cows,  which  we  dared  not  scamp  lest  they 
go  dry  and  leave  us  without  our  very  prop  and  stay, 
and  yet  it  was  a  joyful  time.  To  have  been  woe- 
fully tried,  yet  surviving  whole;  to  have  ground 
upon  which  to  build  new  hopes,  what  more  did  we 
need  to  give  us  joy? 


^36  A  Lord  of  Lands. 

When  the  ist  of  April  came,  we  had  money 
enough,  with  the  fund  we  had  put  away  in  the 
bank  the  year  before,  to  meet  our  interest.  We 
had  set  our  hearts  on  paying  something  more,  and 
it  was  a  bitter  thing  to  be  disappointed  of  it,  but 
for  all  that  we  were  glad  to  be  able  to  do  anything 
at  all.  About  a  week  after  we  handed  the  money 
to  Mr.  Beverly,  or  rather  to  his  clerk,  for  the  old 
man  was  not  about,  there  came  a  letter  to  me,  with 
the  name  of  the  company  printed  in  the  corner  of 
the  envelope,  and  under  it  the  words,  Office  of  the 
President.  Exteriorly,  it  was  quite  such  a  letter 
as  I  had  once  before  received,  but  within  it  was  as 
unlike  as  possible,  and  whereas,  out  of  chagrin  and 
mortification  I  had  thrust  the  other  letter  into  the 
lire  as  soon  as  I  had  read  it,  this  one  I  have  kept, 
and  shall  always  keep,  and  hand  it  down  to  my 
children,  as  something  to  be  very  proud  of.  It 
lies  before  me,  now,  and  I  copy  it  for  you: 

"  Dear  Fitzgerald  : 

"  Bully  for  you.     Out  of  some  thousands  who  owe  us  for  their 
land,  all  but  you  and  a  very  few  more  have  defaulted  in  their  in- 
terest, because  of  the  grasshoppers.     We  excuse  them,  willingly, 
and  by  that  we  think  you  entitled  to  all  the  more  praise. 
"  Your  credit  is  gilt-edged. 

"  Faithfully  Yours, 

"  Jones  Baring." 

I  will  add,  as  a  particular  not  insignificant,  that 
the  letter  was  not  written  with  a  machine,  but  in 
the  Old  Man's  hand,  throughout. 

Pests,  speaking  of  them  generally,  were  some- 
thing we  had  not  much  counted  on.     To  be  sure 


A   Lord  of  Lands.  237 

we  were  aware  of  the  existence  of  creatures  of  a 
destructive  bent,  but  to  what  extent  farming  is  an 
incessant  warfare  with  these,  and  not  seldom  a 
warfare  of  doubtful  issue,  we  never  got  to  realize 
until  we  had  tried  it  for  ourselves.  Saying  nothing 
of  the  weeds,  for  they  are  to  be  overcome  by  mere 
industry  and  vigilance,  it  still  remains  that  no  cher- 
ished plant  comes  up  out  of  the  ground  but  some 
form  of  destruction  is  waiting  for  it,  and  fortunate 
is  the  farmer  if  at  any  cost  of  pains  he  can  avert  the 
evil. 

I  am  reminded  of  Ludovika's  first  cabbages. 

Cabbages  were  ever  the  very  apple  of  Ludovika's 
eye.  I  think  it  was  the  second  day  after  her  arrival 
here,  but  it  may  have  been  the  third,  that  she  began 
to  lay  plans  for  an  abundant  supply  of  kraut,  such  as 
should  last  all  winter  and  nobody  feel  called  upon  to 
deny  himself.  The  neighbors  had  rude  hotbeds, 
most  of  them,  and  started  a  great  many  more 
plants  than  they  needed,  and  Ludovika  readily 
procured  something  like  a  thousand,  more  or  less, 
little  cabbages,  and  as  soon  as  the  weather  was  fit 
we  set  them  out,  under  her  anxious  supervision,  for 
she  insisted  upon  our  using  as  much  care  as  if  we 
were  laying  the  foundations  of  a  cathedral.  After 
that  she  tended  them  assiduously,  watering  them 
by  hand,  stirring  the  soil  to  refresh  them,  never 
suffering  the  semblance  of  a  weed  to  steal  away 
any  of  their  nourishment,  and  soon  she  had  the 
reward  of  seeing  them  lift  up  their  heads  and 
promise  great  things.  Neither  of  us  foreboded  evil, 
considering   how   they   had   taken   root,    and   were 


238  A  Lord  of  Lands. 

growing,  in  the  best  manner,  and  least  of  all  did 
we  look  for  evil  to  proceed  from  the  beautiful  little 
butterflies  which  came  fluttering  about  the  plants, 
some  of  them  white,  and  some  of  them  a  fine  purple 
in  color.  Who  was  to  look  with  distrust  on  such 
lovely  creatures?  Not  I,  and  it  was  only  I  who 
took  much  notice  of  them,  for  Ludovika  had  no  eyes 
to  spare  from  her  work.  I  was  quite  lost  in  admira- 
tion of  them,  especially  their  stylish  way  of  flying. 
But  with  all  their  appearance  of  gay  levity,  they 
were  at  the  serious  business  of  laying  their  eggs, 
among  the  leaves  of  the  cabbages,  and  these  in 
their  appointed  time  brought  forth  green  grubs, 
which  proceeded  to  bore  tunnels  through  the  swell- 
ing heads  until  they  looked  as  if  they  had  been 
riddled  with  shot.  The  mischief  was  done  before 
we  knew  it  was  begun.  We  got  never  a  cabbage 
out  of  our  great  patch,  and  but  for  the  kindness  of 
neighbors  must  have  gone  krautless,  a  catastrophe 
which  I  could  have  met  with  fortitude,  but  which 
the  partner  of  my  joys  and  sorrows  shuddered  to 
think  of.  The  next  year  Ludovika  thought  to 
destroy  the  pretty  flies  with  a  whisk,  of  deadly 
construction,  but  although  she  pursued  them  with 
the  utmost  acrimony,  they  were  too  many  for  her, 
and  we  had  at  last  to  resort  to  poison.  This 
answered  very  well,  and  imported  no  such  danger  as 
we  had  feared,  for  the  reason  that  a  cabbage  builds 
itself  up  from  within,  and  no  exterior  spraying  can 
possibly  affect  the  parts  which  are  eaten. 

There    was    another    very    handsome    butterfly 
which  brought  along  calamity  with  it ;  a  big  fellow. 


A  Lord  of  Lands.  239 

something  equal  to  a  small  bird,  of  a  clear  orange 
color,  and  gorgeous  enough,  but  showmg  to  much 
the    iDest    advantage    when    at    rest,    for    he    was 
sluggish  and  awkward  in  motion.     He  hung  about 
the  leaves  of  the  oaks,  and  soon,  for  now,  havmg 
learned  something  of  butterflies,  I  was  watchmg 
for  developments,  I  found  the  under  side  of  here 
and  there  leaf  overlaid  with  little  round  eggs,  as 
hard  as  glass  to  the  touch,  set  in  the  most  curiously 
correct  rows  of  varying  tints,  and  looking  for  all 
the  world  like  Indian  bead-work.     It  was  a  thing 
of  surpassing  loveliness,  and  as  marvelous  as   it 
was  lovely,  but  in  no  long  time,  as  I  was  prepared 
to  see,  there  was  another  story  to  tell.     Wherever 
butterflies  lay  eggs,  and  howsoever  beautiful  these 
eggs,  there  will  presently  be  worms  to  reckon  with. 
The  worms  which  came  forth  from  the  eggs  of  the 
orange    butterfly    were    not    unworthy    of    their 
derivation,  for  they  were  undeniably  handsome,  in 
their  way,  which  was  necessarily  a  worm's  way  and 
had  its  drawbacks.     They  wore  the  appearance,  if 
you  could  stomach  to  bend  down  and  examme  them 
closely,  of  being  clothed  in  a  neat-fitting  suit  of  the 
finest  black  velvet,  with  two  rows  of  glittering  gold 
buttons  down  the  whole  length  of  their  backs,  and 
between  these  rows  a  faint  piping,  as  it  were,  ot 
turquoise  blue.     Could  a   color   scheme  be  more 
pleasing,  in  itself  ?     But  where  is  the  eye  that  can  be 
much  pleased  with  any  sort  of  a  color  scheme  laid 
on  a  squirming,  wriggling  worm? 

They  proved  to  be  very  destructive,  though  their 
destruction  cost  us  nothing  unless  it  was  peace  of 


24^  A   Lord  of  Lands. 

mind.  They  never  went  near  the  crops,  but  we 
were  in  fear  and  trembling  for  awhile,  observing 
their  unappeasable  hunger  and  wondering  what 
they  were  likely  to  do  when  they  should  have  eaten 
up  the  oak  leaves,  which  were  their  chosen  food. 
Nothing  could  equal  their  gluttony  and  unmannerly 
haste.  Standing  under  the  tree  where  they  were 
at  work,  you  could  plainly  hear  their  jaws  going, 
while  all  about  you  the  fragments  of  leaf  which 
they  had  rejected  or  let  slip  in  their  hurry,  were 
falling  in  a  shower.  They  left  the  forest  looking 
very  desolate  indeed,  but  I  cannot  say  that  they 
hurt  the  trees  permanently,  though  they  stripped 
them  bare  for  three  successive  seasons.  The  oak,  as 
I  have  already  remarked,  is  a  tough  and  stubborn 
plant,  and  the  more  it  has  to  contend  against,  the 
tougher  and  stubborner  it  becomes. 

When  these  worms  were  grown  to  the  length  of 
two  inches,  or  thereabouts,  they  suddenly  left  off 
eating,  and  went  to  voyaging.  They  had  some- 
thing the  air  of  seeking  what  else  they  might 
devour,  and  we  held  our  breath,  as  you  may  say, 
until  it  turned  out  that  their  purpose  was  entirely 
innocent,  for  what  they  sought  was  only  a  con- 
venient place  where  they  could  roll  themselves  up 
and  change  into  butterflies  at  their  leisure.  They 
crawled  over  the  ground  in  close  array,  and  that 
worried  us  almost  more  than  any  other  circum- 
stance, since  it  seemed  to  identify  them  with  the 
dreadful  army  worm,  all  or  nearly  all  moving  in  the 
same  general  direction,  and  turning  aside  for  noth- 
ing and  nobody.     If  they  came  to  a  house,  they 


A   Lord  of  Lands.  24 1 

mounted  up  the  sides  of  it,  or  went  in  at  the  door 
or  the  window,  until  we  found  them  everywhere 
we  least  wished  to  find  them,  on  the  tables,  even 
in  the  beds,  and  do  what  we  would  we  could  not 
keep  them  out.  In  the  roads,  where  the  soil  had 
cut  down  into  deep  ruts,  vast  numbers  of  them  met 
their  fate,  for  there,  with  the  rolling  sand  giving 
way  under  their  feet,  they  could  make  no  headway 
and  heaped  themselves  up  impotently,  until  the 
wagons  came  and  crushed  them,  and  went  off  with 
their  wheels  dripping  loathesomely.  We  were  glad 
when  they  vanished,  after  tarrying  three  seasons,  for 
however  harmless,  they  were  unpleasant.  What 
made  an  end  of  them  I  know  not,  but  I  surmise  it 
was  some  unfavorable  turn  in  the  weather,  coming 
upon  them  at  a  critical  time  of  their  life. 

Of  course  I  cannot  omit  to  speak  of  the  chinch- 
bugs,  though  I  hardly  know  whether  to  classify 
them  with  the  pests,  or  with  the  blessings  in  dis- 
guise. They  were  both,  indeed.  No  pest,  except 
the  grasshopper,  was  more  sweepingly  mischievous, 
and  no  pest,  bar  none,  left  us  so  utterly  without 
defense  or  recourse.  But  at  the  same  time  it  was 
they  that  put  the  ban  on  wheat,  and  taught  us, 
albeit  in  a  harsh  fashion,  the  better  way.  As  I 
have  pointed  out,  wheat  is  far  from  being  the  best 
crop  for  a  small  farmer  to  raise,  but  such  was  our 
infatuation  for  it  that  I  doubt  not  we  should  have 
kept  on  with  it,  had  not  Providence  laid  upon  us 
an  interdict  which  we  could  not  escape. 

Between  the  grasshoppers  and  the  chinch-bugs 
we  had  a  year  to  catch  our  breath  in.  when  nothing 
16 


242  A  Lord  of  Lands. 

untoward  happened,  or,  anyway,  nothing  serious, 
and  that  was  a  blessing  indeed,  for  if  they  had  come 
in  successive  years  I  can  hardly  doubt  but  we  should 
have  been  crushed  utterly.  In  this  year  of  grace 
we  made  a  great  progress,  we  thought,  and  think- 
ing so,  were  mightily  encouraged,  and  by  the  end 
of  the  season  felt  the  ground  firm  under  our  feet, 
believing  our  success  well  assured.  Once  more 
the  weather  was  to  blame  for  the  pest,  but  this 
time  it  was  not  an  uncommon  hot  spring,  but  an 
uncommon  dry  spring  that  did  the  mischief.  We 
had  done  wonders  with  wheat  the  previous  year,  and 
now,  with  the  price  near  the  dollar  mark,  though 
hovering  up  and  down  in  the  panicky  way  peculiar 
to  prices  governed  by  speculation,  our  infatuation 
became  a  species  of  madness,  we  lost  our  heads 
completely,  and  covered  every  available  nook  with 
the  kingly  grain,  more  than  two  hundred  acres  in 
all.  And  as  it  happened,  the  dry  weather,  though 
it  was  the  cause  of  the  winter  rye,  our  stanchest 
crop,  being  all  but  a  failure,  never  harmed  the 
wheat,  the  few  rains  we  got  falling  just  in  the 
nick  of  time.  I  doubt  if  anybody  ever  saw  finer 
wheat,  growing.  Looking  proudly  over  our  fields, 
as  we  were  forever  doing,  at  every  opportunity,  we 
could  see  no  reason,  barring  hail  or  heavy  wind,  why 
we  should  not  thresh  in  the  neighborhood  of  four 
thousand  bushels,  of  the  best  grade,  which  meant 
four  thousand  dollars,  perhaps  more. 

Always  in  the  nick  of  time,  I  say,  and  as  the 
wheat  called  for  it,  there  fell  moderate,  but  sufficient 
rain,   gently,    without   violence   of   any   sort,   like 


A  Lord  of  Lands.  243 

bountiful  dew,  until  to  our  enchanted  minds  it 
seemed  as  if  the  powers  above  were  especially  con- 
cerned with  our  crop  and  determined  to  bring  it 
through  rightly.  By  the  middle  of  July  the  grain  was 
grown,  with  the  deep  green  of  it  beginning  slowly  to 
fade  and  soften  into  the  yellow  ripeness.  It  was  a 
delightful  spectacle,  especially  of  a  fine  hot  evening, 
and  evening  was  when  we  had  most  time  to  admire 
it,  being  closely  engaged  elsewhere  during  the  day. 
for  then  the  low  red  sun  cast  a  genial  spell  over  it, 
and  seemed  almost  to  be  holding  it  in  his  warm 
embrace,  and  softly  kissing  it  good-night  over  and 
over,  like  a  lover  taking  leave  of  his  girl,  reluct- 
antly; and  the  gentle  stir  of  the  cooling  air  imparted 
just  enough  motion  to  make  the  chafing  stalks  whis- 
per soothingly.  Nothing  handsomer  than  wheat 
ever  grows  out  of  the  ground,  and  I  except  neither 
palm  nor  orchid,  nor  any  other  plant  whatever. 

And  now  the  chinch-bugs  fell  on.  They  did  not 
attack  with  loud  alarums,  obtrusively,  as  the  grass- 
hoppers had  done,  for  we  never  had  a  suspicion  of 
their  presence  until  their  evil  lay  as  good  as  wrought 
before  our  eyes.  The  first  we  noticed  which 
seemed  out  of  the  way  and  wrong  was  a  spotted- 
ness  over  the  surface  of  the  fields,  and  this  came 
on  between  one  evening  and  the  next.  It  looked 
somewhat  as  if  certain  parts  were  ripening  faster 
than  others,  and  to  this  we  sanguinely  attributed 
the  appearance,  arguing,  against  our  misgivings, 
that  variations  in  the  character  of  the  soil  might 
easily  produce  such  an  effect,  but  all  the  while  we 
could  remember  nothing  of  the  sort  from  the  pre- 


244  ^   Lord  of  Lands. 

vious  year,  and  what  was  even  more  disquieting, 
the  color  which  the  wheat  was  taking  on  was  not 
so  much  the  rich  yellow  we  were  watching  for,  as 
it  was  a  dull,  rusty,  ill-conditioned  brown.  At 
length,  after  consulting  at  the  edge  of  the  field 
during  upwards  of  an  hour  and  coming  to  no 
satisfactory  conclusion,  we  waded  out  into  the  thick 
grain,  though  well  knowing  that  wheat  trodden 
down  at  the  verge  of  maturity  will  never  lift  its 
head  again,  and  we  were  thunderstruck  to  find  that 
the  stalks  where  the  brown  spots  were  stood  as 
dead  as  hay,  with  the  grain  in  the  heads  shriveled  to 
dust.  It  was  a  black  mystery,  for  we  could  discover 
no  cause  for  the  condition  we  found,  until  in  our 
search  we  examined  the  roots  of  the  plants,  and  be- 
held the  ground  alive  and  swarming  with  millions 
upon  millions  of  little  red  creatures,  almost  too  small 
to  be  seen,  only  that  there  was  such  a  multitude  of 
them.  It  was  only  too  evident  that  they  were 
gnawing  the  tender  straw  or  sucking  out  the  sap, 
we  could  not  make  out  which,  by  the  failing  light. 
In  a  pale  panic,  for  we  saw  the  whole  crop  threat- 
ened, we  ran  to  the  neighbors  with  our  discovery, 
thinking  to  get  help  of  them,  only  to  find  them  in 
an  equal  quandary,  with  their  wheat  likewise  brown 
and  spotted,  and  swarms  of  unheard-of  bugs  at 
the  roots  of  it.  Nobody  knew  in  the  least  what  to 
call  them,  or  what  to  do  to  stop  their  ravages.  We 
stood  about  and  measured  with  sinking  hearts  the 
havoc  which  a  few  hours  had  wrought,  and 
dismally  asked  ourselves  if  anything  would  be  left 
in  a  few  hours  more.     Some  were  for  getting  to 


A   Lord  of  Lands.  I45 

work  at  once,  by  moonlight,  to  cut  the  grain,  with 
the  notion  of  snatching  thus  at  least  a  brand  from 
the  burning,  and  then  somebody  questioned  whether 
the  pests  would  not  go  to  the  corn  if  the  wheat  were 
taken  from  them,  and  we  knew  not  what  was  best. 
We  hoped,  for  men  will  hope  to  the  last,  that  they 
might  be  content  with  ruining  us  partly,  but  we 
were  blue  enough,  withal,  for  the  wheat  was  pretty 
much  everything  to  us,  we  had  suffered  ourselves 
to  be  that  taken  up  with  it. 

Among  the  many  pamphlets  which  we  had  got 
from  the  experiment  stations  was  a  certain  thick 
treatise  on  injurious  insects.  This  I  had  at  my 
house,  since  nobody  else  cared  for  it,  intending 
to  read  it  thoroughly  when  I  should  have  the  leisure, 
for  it  was  full  of  pictures  and  terms  which  aroused 
my  curiosity,  and  now,  coming  home  heavy  with 
anxiety  for  the  wheat,  and  in  no  mind  to  sleep, 
I  picked  it  up  and  ran  over  the  leaves  in  a  desultory 
way,  wondering  if  there  might  not  be  in  it  some 
light,  with  perhaps  a  suggestion  of  remedies.  And 
light,  at  least,  there  was.  I  had  not  turned  fifty 
leaves  until  I  came  face  to  face  with  a  picture  of 
a  stool  of  wheat  with  chinch-bugs  working  at  it, 
and  I  cried  out  with  a  cry  of  woeful  recognition. 
The  picture  by  itself  left  me  in  no  doubt,  but  as  if 
to  make  assurance  doubly  sure,  a  final  test  was 
laid  down,  for  the  purpose  of  identification. 

"When  crushed,"  so  ran  the  directions,  "the 
chinch-bug  gives  off  an  odor  like  that  of  a  bed-bug, 
to  which,  indeed,  it  is  nearly  related." 

I  read  on  a  little,  and  learned  how  destructive  the 


246  A  Lord  of  Lands. 

chinch-bug  is,  and  how  powerless  we  are  to  prevent 
its  ravages,  and  with  that  the  hope  that  springs 
eternal  seized  upon  the  possibility  that  our  unwel- 
come visitors  might  not  be  chinch-bugs  after  all, 
but  something  more  tolerable,  and  I  sprang  up, 
though  it  was  long  past  my  usual  hour  of  retiring, 
and  seized  my  hat,  and  was  going  out  to  make 
final  proof  of  the  matter,  and  know  the  worst, 
if  there  was  nothing  better  to  be  known,  when 
Ludovika,  disturbed  no  doubt  by  my  unusual 
manner,  called  out  to  me  from  the  bedroom, 
whither  she  had  retired  in  order,  for  she  suf- 
fered nothing  to  invade  her  rest,  and  asked  me 
what  was  I  about.  She  spoke  sleepily,  and  I  have 
ever  thought  she  was  not  quite  aware  of  her  bear- 
ings, although  I  stopped  long  enough  to  tell  her 
plainly,  if  briefly,  what  I  had  found  in  the  book, 
and  about  the  peculiarity  by  which  chinch-bugs 
were  to  be  identified. 

"  I  am  going  out,"  said  I,  with  something  of  the 
fierceness  of  desperation,  *'  to  see  if  the  creatures 
smell  like  bed-bugs,  when  crushed." 

Let  me  repeat  that  in  my  opinion  Ludovika 
was  not  fully  awake.  But  at  all  events,  she  flew 
into  a  towering  passion. 

"  Who  are  you,"  she  cried,  vehemently,  "  to  go 
out  before  people  and  pretend  that  you  know  how 
bed-bugs  smell?  The  idea!  There  never  was  a 
bed-bug  in  a  house  kept  by  me." 

I  saw  how  the  land  lay. 

"  To  be  sure,"  I  replied.  "  I  learned  the  smell 
of  the  things  before  ever  I  was  married." 


A  Lord  of  Lands.  247 

Well,  the  bugs  were  chinch-bugs,  and  our  wheat 
was  doomed.  Even  the  straw  was  worthless.  And 
we  never  sowed  wheat  again. 

Before  leaving  the  subject  of  pests,  I  think  I 
should  tell  the  story  of  the  ants  and  the  molasses- 
jug.  Ants  are  pests,  although  they  have  good 
traits,  notably  their  fine  industry  and  thriftiness 
which  have  been  an  inspiration  to  mankind  since 
Solomon's  time.  I  have  known  them  to  destroy 
a  whole  planting  of  beets,  by  heaving  the  young 
plants  bodily  out  of  the  soil,  and  whatsoever  ground 
they  choose  for  their  abode  is  made  pretty  much 
useless  for  other  purposes.  They  are  inordinately 
fond  of  sweets,  and  in  their  search  for  these  they 
become  a  great  trial  to  the  farmer's  wife,  for  they 
will  not  be  put  off  by  any  devices.  Our  pantry  was 
overrun  with  them,  the  first  year,  the  house  being 
unplastered  and  affording  easy  entrance  for  such  as 
they,  and  they  were  in  everything  that  held  a  trace 
of  sweetness,  until  at  last  we  gave  up  to  them  in 
despair,  and  fell  back  upon  the  thought  that  ants 
are  not  poisonous  and  if  we  ate  one  now  and  then, 
by  mistake,  it  was  no  killing  matter.  And  were  we 
not  surprised  and  delighted  when  they  suddenly 
disappeared,  without  apparent  reason,  to  the  last 
ant,  as  if  the  earth  had  opened  and  swallowed  them 
up?  It  was  a  mystery  what  became  of  them  until 
one  day,  it  being  in  order  to  make  soft  gingerbread, 
the  girls  were  set  to  pour  out  the  necessary  molasses, 
and  poured  out,  not  molasses,  but  a  stream  of  dead 
ants.  That  told  the  story.  The  capable  fellows 
had  cut  a  clever  little  tunnel  down  the  side  of  the 


^4^  A  Lord  of  Lands. 

cork,  and  through  this  every  ant  of  the  colony  had 
gone  down  to  his  joy  and  his  destruction.  They 
stuck  fast  in  their  feast,  and  died  as  the  fool  dieth, 
the  victims  of  their  own  greediness. 

Was  it  not  in  a  way  tragic?  I  mean  the  ending 
of  the  ants,  and  not  the  loss  of  the  molasses,  which 
was  all  that  Ludovika  could  be  induced  to  regret. 


CHAPTER  XL 

Our  material  prosperity  was  like  a  slowly  rising 
flood,  with  conflicting  winds  playing  over  the  sur- 
face of  it.  There  were  fitful  waves,  which  altern- 
ately lifted  us  up  and  let  us  down,  and  sometimes 
they  made  us  wonder,  just  for  the  moment,  how  we 
stood.  But  as  often  as  we  came  to  the  ist  of  April, 
and  counted  up,  and  looked  back  a  year,  we  could 
not  doubt  that  we  were  gaining,  on  the  whole.  Our 
worst  year  was  the  grasshopper  year,  and  what  we 
made  out  then,  you  already  know.  Our  next  worst 
year  was  the  year  of  the  chinch-bugs,  and  then  there 
was  a  cool  thousand  dollars  for  Beverly,  besides  the 
interest,  for  w^e  had  our  corn  and  our  hogs  left,  and 
our  cows,  and  our  unfailing  resource,  the  swamps. 
The  story  of  our  prosperity,  in  this  material  sense, 
becomes  monotonous,  I  am  thinking,  and  I  propose 
to  vary  it  with  some  consideration  of  our  prosperity 
in  the  things  which  are  of  the  spirit.  Be  it  known 
that  I  am  entering  debated  ground,  here,  for  Eliza- 
beth is  against  me,  forthwith. 

"  You  are  bringing  in  too  much  moonshine  and 
not  enough  of  the  verisimilitude  of  a  business  suc- 
cess," says  she. 

''Ah.  indeed?"  says  I,  moved  to  admiration  by 
her  fluent  use  of  these  lofty  terms,  but  determined 
withal  not  to  be  overawed. 


250  A  Lord  of  Lands. 

"  Yes,"  says  she,  "  your  details  lack  the  coher- 
ency and  consecutiveness  without  which  they  can 
never  be  convincing." 

"  If  you  mean,"  says  I,  stoutly,  with  a  feeling 
that  my  superior  age  should  in  a  manner  counterbal- 
ance the  girl's  superior  learning,  ^'  if  you  mean  that 
I  should  be  proclaiming  to  a  listening  and  anxious 
world  how  to  get  rich  farming,  I  answer  that  I  don't 
profess  to  be  a  pillar  of  cloud  by  day  and  a  pillar  of 
fire  by  night.  Not  I.  Plenty  can  tell  them  a  great 
deal  better  than  I,  if  they  wish  to  know  how  to  get 
rich.  As  for  the  moonshine,  so  be  it.  I  am  an  old 
man,  and  I  love  to  talk,  and  I  must  tell  my  story  in 
my  own  way.  Besides,  is  not  moonshine  nearly  re- 
lated to  sunshine  ?  " 

Now  Elizabeth  is  forced  to  smile  at  this  conceit. 
While  it  may  be  true  that  the  cultivation  of  the 
mind  has  been  the  spoiling  of  some  hearts,  it  has 
not  spoiled  hers,  and  I  know  that  I  shall  still  have 
her  good  counsel  and  loyal  support,  even  though 
she  shall  withhold  her  approval. 

What  I  wish  especially  to  tell  you  about  is  how  we 
played.  All  work  and  no  play  makes  Jack  a  dull 
boy,  and  we  suffered  no  dull  Jacks  among  us. 

Our  play-day  was  Sunday.  Never  once,  from  the 
hour  of  our  forlornly  landing  with  our  lumber,  un- 
til now,  a  matter  of  more  years  than  I  well  like  to 
count  up,  although  they  have  been  happy  years,  take 
them  rough  and  running,  and  I  have  no  wish  to  for- 
get any  of  them, — never  once,  I  say,  has  any  of  us 
of  the  colony  done  a  tap  of  work  on  the  first  day  of 
the  week,  further  than  was  necessary  to  make  our- 


A  Lord  of  Lands.  251 

selves  and  our  beasts  comfortable.  I  have  seen  our 
hay  lie  out  all  day  Saturday  in  a  soaking  rain,  yet 
left  to  take  its  chances  until  Monday,  though  the 
Sunday  between  was  bright  and  breezy,  the  very 
perfection  of  a  hay-day,  such  as  would  easily,  with 
a  little  help  from  us,  have  made  good  the  damage  of 
the  falling  weather.  That  will  show  you  how 
strongly  we  felt  about  it,  how  thoroughly  we  be- 
lieved in  a  Sabbath  which  should  be  indeed  a  Sab- 
bath, and  whereby  we  should  invite  our  souls,  as  the 
poet  hath  it,  regardless  of  consequences.  Six  days 
we  labored  and  did  all  our  work,  for  what  was  not 
done  in  the  six  was  never  done.  If  sheep  of  ours 
had  fallen  into  a  pit  on  a  Sunday,  I  doubt  not  we 
should  have  gone  and  lifted  it  out,  but  that  would 
have  been  out  of  pity  for  the  sheep,  and  not  in  the 
least  with  a  view  to  conserving  our  property.  It 
has  been  a  holy  day  with  us,  not  in  any  strict  or 
formal  religious  sense,  for  I  am  bound  to  say  that 
as  far  as  concerned  worship  and  stated  observances, 
we  were  less  rather  than  more  religious,  although 
there  have  always  been  some  few  given  to  prayer 
and  pious  meditation,  but  rather  in  the  sense  that 
we  sanctified  the  day  to  freedom.  Only  by  this  was 
the  freedom  limited,  namely,  no  man  might  work. 
There  was  no  positive  law  laid  down,  but  the 
sentiment  which  is  the  substance  whereof  law  is 
but  the  form,  was  strongly  defined,  and  ready  to 
make  itself  felt  should  there  be  occasion.  Had 
anybody,  man,  woman,  or  even  child,  ventured  to 
engage  in  labor,  except  such  labor  as  by  common 
consent  was  deemed  indispensable,  on  this  day,  I 


252  A   Lord  of  Lands. 

know  not  what  drastic  penalty  might  not  have  been 
inflicted.  Practically,  there  was  the  smallest  chance 
of  the  occasion  arising.  The  habit  of  taking  the 
day  for  play  speedily  vindicated  itself  by  its  advant- 
ages, and  became  fixed,  and  needed  no  bolstering 
by  ordinance  or  statute. 

That  we  had  such  a  correct  notion,  to  begin  with, 
of  the  importance  of  play,  we  owe  to  the  trade  un- 
ions, to  one  or  another  of  which  in  the  old  order  we 
all  of  us  had  belonged.  It  w^as  always  a  trade  union 
ideal  that  a  man  should  employ  a  third  of  his  time 
in  recreation,  putting  it,  in  other  words,  on  an  equal 
footing  with  work  and  rest.  Our  neighbors,  who 
had  always  been  farmers  and  their  fathers  before 
them  likewise,  were  wholly  new  to  this  doctrine, 
looking  on  play  as  a  thing  for  children  who  were 
not  yet  strong  enough  to  work,  and  wholly  beneath 
the  dignity  of  grown  people.  Is  there  anything 
which  leads  poor  foolish  man  to  do  sillier  things 
than  this  same  sense  of  dignity,  unless  it  be  what  we 
call  the  sense  of  honor?  When  we  looked  about 
us  and  saw  exemplified  in  these  good  friends  of 
ours  the  aptness  of  the  business  of  farming  to  make 
drudges  of  such  as  practice  it,  we  were  more  than 
ever  resolved  not  to  neglect  our  play,  come  what 
might.  For  it  is  not  to  be  gainsaid  that  no  business 
is  fuller  of  pressing  duties,  if  only  you  choose  to 
let  them  press.  A  farmer's  work  is  never  done, 
unless  he  sets  his  foot  firmly  down  and  commands 
it  to  be  done,  for  the  time  being,  at  all  events.  We 
highly  determined  to  have  our  work  done  at  least 
once  every  week,  whether  or  no,  let  the  emergency 


A   Lord  of  Lands.  253 

be  what  it  would,  short  of  a  matter  of  life  and  death ; 
and  this  determination  we  have  never  regretted,  or 
our  having  held  rigidly  to  it  through  thick  and  thin, 
Nor  is  it  possible  to  accuse  our  Sabbath  of  having 
cost  us  dearly  in  a  worldly  way.  On  the  contrary,  I 
am  convinced  that  it  has  gained  us  not  a  little,  in 
the  most  material  sense.  For  it  is  a  fact  that  the 
man  who  of  all  the  neighbors  is  most  notoriously 
given  to  working  himself  and  his  help  on  Sunday, 
is  forever  behind,  always  late  with  his  planting 
and  his  reaping,  whereas  we  are  pretty  well  in 
front  of  the  procession,  usually.  I  name  no  names, 
nor  do  I  profess  to  explain  why  this  should  be, 
that  six  days  are  better  than  seven,  when  seven  are 
all  we  have. 

Only  in  the  sense  that  rest  is  a  change  of  employ- 
ment, rather  than  inert  inactivity,  was  our  Sunday 
a  day  of  rest.  As  a  matter  of  fact,  I  daresay  we 
spent  greater  effort,  in  our  Sunday  doings,  than  in 
the  doing  of  any  other  day.  We  played  hard.  I 
account  myself  a  tolerably  stanch  man,  and  as  able 
as  the  next  to  stand  up  against  the  toil  of  the  field, 
but  Sunday  about  laid  me  out.  Come  night,  after 
this  happy  day,  I  would  crawl  into  my  bed  as  tired 
as  a  dog  and  aching  in  all  my  muscles,  partly  be- 
cause of  being  less  wonted  to  these  activities,  but 
mostly  because,  in  the  spirit  which  gives  play  its 
character,  we  were  all  the  time  going  to  the  limit  of 
our  strength,  if  not  a  little  beyond.  I  assure  you 
there  was  no  yawning  or  dozing  about  our  corners 
of  a  Sunday,  nor  had  anybody  to  lie  abed  in  the 
morninor  to  kill  dull  time.     From  sun-up,  or  earlier, 


254  A  Lord  of  Lands. 

till  sundown,  or  later,  there  was  unceasing  riot,  fun 
of  one  kind  or  another,  depending  somewhat  on  the 
season  and  the  weather,  though  we  largely  rose 
superior  to  trifling  circumstances  of  that  sort,  and 
played  ball  with  snow  on  the  ground  if  we  felt 
like  it.  We  were  disorderly,  but  play  without 
disorder  would  be  a  pretty  poor  thing,  I  am  think- 
ing. We  were  extravagant,  but  extravagance  is 
the  very  life  of  it,  as  in  order  to  learn  you  have  only 
to  watch  young  lambs,  or  pigs,  who  know  by 
instinct  how. 

For  all  of  us,  young  and  old,  was  Sunday  truly 
the  day  of  days,  the  day  we  took  comfort  in  looking 
forward  to  through  the  week,  but  the  little  folks, 
what  was  it  not  to  them?  It  was  their  day,  in 
an  especial  sense.  They  bossed  the  play,  so  to  speak, 
as  they  were  the  fittest  to  do,  having,  like  the 
lambs  and  the  pigs,  though  in  less  degree,  the 
natural  instinct  for  it,  which  we  elders  had  unhappily 
outgrown  in  large  measure.  We  very  soon  dis- 
covered that  we  achieved  far  more  enjoyment  if 
we  let  the  children  lay  out  the  business,  choosing 
what  we  should  do,  and  assigning  us  our  various 
parts,  which  we  performed  with  all  possible 
heartiness,  for  unless  you  are  loyal  to  your  leaders, 
how  can  you  hope  to  win? 

The  neighbors  were  a  good  deal  astonished  by 
these  proceedings,  and,  until  they  became  more 
used  to  us  and  our  ways,  they  were  given  some 
scandal.  In  their  hearts  they  thought  us  trifling, 
with  too  little  gravity  to  engage  effectively  in  the 
stern  battle  of   Hfe.     Once,   and  I   remember  the 


A  Lord  of  Lands.  255 

incident  perfectly,  having  recalled  it  to  laugh  over 
it  many  and  many  a  time,  v^:e  were  m  the  midst  ot 
a  game  of  ball,  hot  to  the  point  of  flame,  with  the 
score  very  close  and  the  outcome  completely  wrapped 
in  doubt,  when  who  should  drive  up,  in  all  their  best 
Sunday   clothes,   with   a   view   to   making   a   nice, 
dignified  afternoon  call,  but  Tucker  and  his  wife? 
It  fell  out  that  I  was  myself  at  bat,  in  this  juncture 
or,  rather,  was  just  after  having  made  a  hit  of  such 
a  weak  and  indecisive  sort  that  my  reaching  the 
base  in  safety  was  at  best  very  problematical,  and 
I   was  running  for  it,   at  the  top  of  my   speed, 
straining    every    nerve,    with    no    thought    of    the 
appearances,  while  the  others,  some  for  me  and  some 
against  me,   yelled  like  wild  men.     Mrs.   Tucker 
a  person  of  strong  views  and  quick  discernment, 
derived  her  own  impressions,  as  was  to  be  expected 
and  not  being  given  to  mincing  matters,  she  spoke  of 
them,  afterwards,  with  complete  freedom,  and  her 
remarks,   since  they  were  of  a  disparaging  note, 
although  nothing  for  a  man  of  sense  to  take  the 
least  offense  at,   inevitably  came  to   my  ears    for 
there  are  always  people  who  cannot  abide  to  leave 
anybody  in  ignorance  of  the  ill  things  said  about 
him      These  remarks  I  will  give  you,  with  some 
claim  to  exactness,   for  I   am   very   familiar  with 
the  good  woman's  manner,  and  find  it  in  no  small 
degree  entertaining,  quite  apart  from  the  subject 
matter  of  her  discourse,  which  is  almost  always 

worth  while.  ,,  t,   ,  '   u 

"  Well,  I  declare!  "  quoth  she.       If  there  wa  n  t 

that  there  long-legged,  spindle-shanked  Fitzgerald, 


256  A  Lord  of  Lands. 

a-runnin'  for  all  he  was  wuth,  an'  the  rest  on  'em, 
a-screechin'  like  mad.  You  could  'a'  played 
checkers  on  that  man's  coat-tails  he  was  a-goin'  so. 
Now,  I  call  that  pooty  small  business  for  a  grown 
man  to  be  up  to,  an'  a  Sunday,  too." 

In  general,  Mrs.  Tucker  is  a  woman  of  uncom- 
mon wisdom,  and  as  good  as  gold,  especially  when 
she  can  go  her  own  way  about  it.  As  for  the 
desecration  of  the  Sabbath,  which  she  hinted  at, 
we  heard  very  little  about  that.  Many  of  the 
neighbors  were  of  the  Puritan  stock,  and  held  some- 
what to  the  traditions  of  the  sect ;  but  after  all  they 
had  pretty  much  drifted  over  into  an  agreement  with 
the  Savior,  who  assures  us  that  the  Sabbath  was 
made  for  man  and  not  man  for  the  Sabbath. 

Ball  was  never  my  best-beloved  game,  however. 
I  had  not  the  talent  for  it.  Particularly,  I  could 
not  throw  well  enough  to  take  my  part  with  credit, 
and  for  that  reason  I  was  always  being  relegated  to 
the  obscure  positions.  I  found  it  irksome  to  be  sent 
out  to  loiter  about  in  the  field,  although  it  is  true, 
as  the  great  Milton  says,  that  they  also  serve  who 
only  stand  and  wait.  Throwing  is  a  trick  of  gather- 
ing the  muscles  of  the  arm  and  shoulder,  and 
this  I  never  could  get.  I  surmise  that  it  is  some- 
thing you  have  to  be  born  to,  for  boys  of  ten  years, 
with  not  half  my  strength,  could  beat  me  throwing. 
I  liked  duck-on-the-rock  much  better.  It  has  the 
life  in  it,  and  calls  for  an  alertness,  and  as  many 
may  play  as  there  are  to  play,  and  whatever  glory 
there  is  in  it  is  more  evenly  distributed.  Hilarity 
is  the  breath  of  play,  and  it  suffers  where  there  arises 


A   Lord  of  Lands.  257 

such   a  rivalry   as   to   provide   a   serious   purpose. 
Football  is  fine,  too,   played  in  the  old,   informal 
way,  with  as  many  taking  part  as  choose  to  come  in. 
But  Sunday  was  by  no  means  our  only  play-day. 
In  those  early  years  there  was  a  circus  to  go  to 
every   year,    and   not   seldom   two   of   them.     The 
circuses  then  were  relatively  small  affairs,  just  as 
everything  about   was   relatively    small;    although 
we  thought  them  big  enough,  in  fact,  stupendous,  to 
borrow  their  own  description  of  themselves,  in  the 
bills  which  they  scattered  through  the  country.    But 
they  were  not   too  big,   and   that  was  their  vital 
merit,   to   show   in   the   small   places,   and   so   they 
were  more  a  part  of  the  life  of  the  plain  people 
who  cannot   go   far   from  home.     As  often   as   a 
circus  pitched  its  tents  within  ten  miles  of  us  in 
any  direction,  we  dropped  our  work  and  took   it 
in,  and  made  a  day  of  it,  and  thought  ourselves 
doing  well  if  we  got  back  home  again  by  midnight. 
Now  a  circus  never  comes  nearer  to  us  than  the  city. 
The  small  show  has  vanished  from  the  face  of  the 
earth  and  the  places  that  have  known  it  shall  know  it 
no  more   forever,   vastly  to  their   regret,   I   think. 
I,  at  least,  am  sorry.     The  old  circus  was  better 
than  the  thing  it  has  given  way  to.     There  was  less 
to  see,  but  there  was  a  great  plenty,  and  it  was 
truly  a  satisfaction  to  go  away  feeling  that  you  had 
seen  everything.   With  but  the  one  ring,  every  word 
the   clown   spoke  could  be  plainly  heard,   and   his 
wit  fully  enjoyed  and  taken  to  heart,  whereas  in 
the  new  order,  there  is  only  the  feeblest  mockery 
of  a  clown,   who    offers    nothing    but    an    inane 
17 


258  A  Lord  of  Lands. 

pantomime,  and  the  force  even  of  this  is  much 
impaired  because  of  the  bewildered  onlooker  having 
all  the  time  to  wonder  if  he  is  not  missing  many 
things  which  he  would  wish  to  see.  Last  year  I 
went  to  a  circus  of  the  latter  day  sort,  with  three 
rings,  and  a  spectacle  called  the  Burning  of  Rome, 
and  while  there  was  plenty  to  stare  at,  and  be  made 
dizzy  by,  I  thought  my  money  ill  spent  after  all, 
and  retain  no  recollection  of  it  that  does  not  confirm 
me  in  thinking  myself  a  fool  for  going. 

Then  there  w-as  the  Fourth  of  July,  always.  We 
made  a  great  deal  of  the  Fourth,  less,  I  daresay, 
out  of  patriotic  regard  for  the  nation's  birthday, 
than  because  the  traditions  with  which  long  custom 
has  wreathed  the  occasion,  give  it  an  especial  appeal 
to  the  more  or  less  gentle  savage  who  lurks  at 
the  bottom  of  our  nature.  It  is  gunpowder  day, 
and  gunpowder  delights  the  boy,  and  we  were 
all  boys,  regardless  of  age  or  sex,  when  it  came  to 
play.  We  neglected  none  of  the  ordinary  devices 
for  making  the  day  memorable,  and  we  did  some 
things,  morever,  which  were  not  usual,  at  least  in 
the  country.  There  being  sixteen  families  of  us, 
and  but  one  celebration,  or  what  amounted  to  that, 
for  all,  we  could  afford,  poor  as  we  were,  to  get 
up  something  rather  fine  in  the  way  of  fireworks  for 
the  evening.  We  raised  a  temporary  platform  at 
the  crossing  of  the  roads,  for  the  more  effective 
display  of  the  pyrotechnics,  and  neighbors  came 
from  miles  away  to  witness  the  spectacle,  and 
thought  themselves  well  paid  for  the  trouble.  But 
there  is  always  a  serious  difficulty  in  the  way  of 


A  Lord  of  Lands.  259 

fireworks  on  the  Fourth  of  July,  and  no  remedy 
for  it,  so  far  as  I  can  see.     It  consists  in  this,  that 
we  have  no  genuine  darkness  at  that  time  of  the 
year,  to  give  the  fire  all  its  proper  grandeur.     The 
sun  does  not  set  till  near  8  o'clock,  and  even  then  he 
seems  to  be  lurking  just  below  the  horizon,  as  if  he 
suspected  us  of  being  about  to   do   something  of 
interest,  and  was  minded  to  wait  and  see  it  out. 
There  are  times,  to  be  sure,  when  the  sky  is  over- 
cast with  clouds,  but  who  wishes  for  darkness  on 
those  terms?     If  the   nation  had  only  been  born 
about  four  months  later,  on  the  Fourth  of  Nov- 
ember, say,  the  fireworks  would  show  better,  and 
could  be  gotten  out  of  the  way  without  the  need  to 
keep  the  young  children  up  after  their  usual  bedtime. 
With  all  our   Sundays  and  holidays  and  circus 
days,  we  still  found  time  to  go  hunting  and  fishing, 
now  and  then,  that  is,  such  of  us  as  cared  for  those 
sports.     I  am  no  sportsman,  myself,  in  that  sense, 
by  reason  of  a  certain  defect  of  my  nature,  in  virtue 
of  which  I  find  no  fun  at  all  in  taking  the  life  of 
a   fellow-creature,    even  of   the   sort   reckoned   in- 
ferior.     Once   upon   a   time,   let   me   confess,    for 
the  easement  of  my  soul,   in  a  moment  of  over- 
mastering excitement,  I  fetched  a  gun  -to  shoot  at 
two  poor  little  ducks  which  had  taken  refuge  m 
a  bit  of  a  pond  formed  by  the  heavy  rains   just 
back    of    the    barn.     The    preying    instinct    had 
me,  and  it  held  me  until  just  as  I  laid  finger  to 
the  trigger.     Then  it  flashed  over  me  that  the  ducks 
were  no  doubt  as   fond   of  life  as  I  was,   and   I 
imagined   myself   in   their   place,    and   I   hoped   I 


2  6o  A  Lord  of  Lands. 

might  not  hit  them,  for  it  was  too  late  not  to  fire. 
But  hit  them  I  did,  and  killed  them  both,  and  I 
sorrowed  over  it,  and  never  again  had  I  the  wish 
to  hunt.  As  for  fishing,  I  held  a  line  in  my  hand 
one  day,  and  a  fierce  little  bull-head  came  and  bit 
at  it,  and  I  drew  him  up  until  I  could  see  him,  and 
then  he  got  off,  and  darted  back  down  into  the 
depths,  seemingly  unhurt,  to  my  vast  relief,  and 
that  is  as  near  as  I  ever  came  to  catching  a  fish. 
Ludovika  rails  at  me  for  my  weakness.  What  were 
those  creatures  made  for,  says  she,  if  not  to  serve 
the  good  pleasure  of  mankind?  Was  not  Adam 
given  dominion  over  them,  in  so  many  words?  To 
this,  being  no  adept  in  the  fine  points  of  theology,  I 
can  answer  nothing;  nor,  when  she  adds,  with  some 
touch  of  irony,  that  I  eat  my  share  of  the  game  and 
the  fish  after  they  come  to  the  table,  am  I  able  in 
the  least  to  defend  myself.  All  I  can  say  is,  that  if 
such  is  sport,  I  am  no  sportsman.  I  was  not  made 
with  the  taste  for  it. 

The  game  was  very  plenty,  at  first.  Prairie 
chickens,  noble  birds,  I  call  them,  were  to  be  met 
with  anywhere  and  everywhere,  bursting  up  from 
under  your  very  feet  almost  in  your  dooryard.  It 
strikes  me  as  a  curious  circumstance  that  whereas 
these  chickens,  when  they  were  plentiful,  went  in 
braces  or  small  coveys  of  three  or  four  or  five,  now 
that  they  are  become  scarce  are  never  seen  except  in 
great  flocks  of  a  hundred  or  more.  I  find  a  clue 
to  the  mystery  in  the  further  fact  that  whereas 
in  the  olden  time,  they  were  very  approachable  and 
rose  only  when  you  were  about  to  tread  on  them, 


A   Lord  of  Lands.  261 

now  they  will  flush  before  even  the  dogs  are  aware  of 
their  presence,  and  it  is  next  to  impossible  to  get 
shot  of  them.  The  amount  of  it  is,  I  daresay,  that 
they  have  been  to  school  to  their  misfortunes,  and 
have  learned  the  security  of  numbers,  how  that  a 
hundred  of  them  together  will  take  the  alarm  of 
danger  more  promptly  than  a  few.  But  for  some 
such  precaution  on  the  part  of  the  birds,  their 
species  must  have  been  extinguished  years  ago. 
Man  makes  laws  in  his  prudence,  but  he  hunts  in 
his  greediness,  and  so  his  laws  avail  but  little. 

There  was  a  variety  of  game,  too,  though  mostly 
of  the  feathered  kind.  We  sometimes  heard  tell  of 
deer  being  seen  not  far  away,  but  we  never  saw 
any,  and  I  have  my  doubts  about  our  country,  with 
its  comparatively  smooth,  level  surface,  and  its 
lack  of  anything  that  would  pass  in  the  eyes  of 
wild  beasts  for  a  forest,  ever  having  been  much 
frequented  by  large  game.  However,  the  birds 
were  not  altogether  small,  as  an  incident  will  serve 
to  show.  One  morning,  very  early,  I  do  not  clearly 
recall  whether  it  was  the  second  year  or  the  third, 
but  I  think  it  was  the  third,  because  I  do  not 
associate  the  matter  at  all  with  the  grasshoppers 
which  gave  our  second  year  its  character,  I  chanced 
to  look  off  over  the  out-iields,  and  spied  what 
seemed,  in  the  distance,  to  be  cattle,  feeding  in  the 
grain.  Of  course  it  would  never  do  to  have  cattle 
eating  up  the  grain,  and  I  called  Richy  in  all  haste 
and  sent  him  out  to  drive  them  off  and  put  up  the 
fence  where  they  had  come  in.  The  boy  took  his 
gun  with  him,  for  he  was  come  to  that  romantic 


262  A  Lord  of  Lands. 

age  when  the  implements  of  destruction  have  their 
greatest  charm,  and  when  ten  pounds  in  the  form 
of  a  battered  old  musket,  and  five  pounds  more  in 
the  form  of  ammunition  for  it,  are  no  heavier  than 
a  feather,  and  went  as  I  bade  him.  After  awhile  I 
heard  him  fire,  but  thought  nothing  of  it,  and  indeed 
had  quite  dismissed  the  thing  from  my  mind,  when, 
some  ten  minutes  later,  he  came  back,  all  out  of 
breath  with  labor  and  excitement,  and  dragging  after 
him  the  most  monstrous  great  bird. 

"  In  the  name  of  goodness ! "  said  I,  taken 
completely  aback.  "What  have  you  there,  boy? 
An  ostrich?" 

It  looked  like  nothing  less,  I  assure  you. 

"  This  is  one  of  the  cattle  you  saw  in  the  wheat," 
said  he.     "  Seven  more  of  them  got  away." 

"  Which  is  fortunate,"  said  I.  "  For  what  should 
we  ever  do  with  seven  more  of  them  ?  " 

We  gathered  about  and  marveled  over  the  great 
fowl,  which  seemed  more  and  more  some  fabulous 
creature,  like  the  roc  of  Sindbad  the  Sailor,  and  at 
length,  thinking  the  occasion  justified  it,  we  sent 
over  to  the  nearest  neighbor's  outside  the  colony, 
and  asked  them  would  they  call  at  their  convenience, 
and  see  what  we  had.  They  found  their  convenience 
right  away,  their  curiosity  being  touched,  no  doubt, 
by  our  manner  of  putting  the  case,  and  came  directly. 
But  the  matter  furnished  no  mystery  for  them. 
The  bird,  they  said,  was  a  sandhill  crane,  not  the 
commonest  of  birds,  but  withal  not  very  uncommon. 
They  assured  us,  in  answer  to  our  particular 
inquiries,  that  a  crane  of  any  sort  w^s  unfit  to  eat. 


A  Lord  of  Lands.  263 

but  we  privately  resolved,  notwithstanding-,  to  make 
trial  for  ourselves,  encouraged  in  part  by  the  great 
bulk  of  the  bird,  which  it  seemed  a  sin  to  make  no 
use  of,  and  in  part  by  the  fair  look  of  the  flesh  in 
the  raw  state,  since  it  gave  every  promise  of  tender- 
ness and  flavor,  and  if,  as  we  were  informed,  the 
species  adhered  strictly  to  a  vegetable  diet,  this  was 
an  added  point  in  its  favor.  We  cooked  the  carcass 
in  a  wash-boiler,  for  we  had  no  other  vessel  big 
enough,  and  found  it  sufficiently  good  eating, 
much  resembling  domestic  chicken  and  quite  devoid 
of  the  blackness  and  bitterness  which  are  the  mark 
of  wild  meat  in  general. 

Richy  became  a  mighty  hunter,  in  those  days  of 
his  young  enthusiasm.  I  notice  that  now  he  has 
boys  of  his  own  who  are  almost  big  enough  to 
shoot  a  gun,  his  interest  lies  in  other  things.  But 
he  was  keen  enough  to  be  always  killing,  then.  I 
have  it  to  relate  that  he  once  killed  a  loon,  for 
which  he  was  highly  praised  by  all  whose  experience 
gave  their  opinion  weight,  the  loon  being  reckoned 
a  very  w^ary  bird  and  hard  to  come  up  with,  and 
able,  moreover,  as  they  aver  who  should  know,  to 
dodge  at  the  flash  of  a  gun  and  get  under  water 
out  of  harm's  way  before  the  shot  can  reach  him. 
Whether  this  is  possible  or  not,  I  leave  it  to  others 
to  say,  keeping  my  own  opinion  to  myself.  At  all 
events,  it  is  conceded  a  difficult  feat  to  kill  a  loon. 
Richy  managed  it  by  crawling  a  great  distance, 
further  than  I  would  care  to  walk  upright  on  such 
an  errand,  through  a  thicket  which  overhung  the 
cove  where  the  birds  were  loitering,  and  they  had 


264  A  Lord  of  Lands. 

no  inkling  of  their  danger  until  their  fellow  lay 
dead  among  them.  We  were  told  that  loons,  like- 
wise, were  inedible,  but  the  crane  had  made  us  wise 
in  our  own  conceit,  and  we  dressed  and  cooked 
Richy's  specimen.  But  now  report  was  right,  for 
the  flesh  proved  very  bad,  invincibly  tough,  and  with 
a  rancid,  oily  taste.  For  days  and  days  the  mate 
of  the  dead  loon  hung  about,  calling  in  the  most 
doleful  fashion,  and  its  grief  and  constancy  went 
greatly  to  my  heart.  Even  Richy,  little  given  as  he 
was  to  sentiment,  felt  a  sorrow  for  what  he  had 
done,  and  frankly  owned  up  to  it,  and  never  tried  to 
kill  another  loon. 

Pigeons  were  commoner  then  than  English  spar- 
rows are  now,  that  is,  in  their  season.  We  had 
pigeons,  broiled,  fried  and  stewed,  in  pies  and  out, 
until  we  fairly  loathed  them,  delicate  eating  though 
they  are.  I  have  known  us  to  have  a  wash-tub 
standing  full  to  the  brim  with  dressed  pigeons, 
covered  over  with  cold  water  to  keep  them  fresh  un- 
til we  could  get  to  eat  them.  There  were  days  when 
not  a  minute  passed,  between  daylight  and  dark,  but 
you  could  look  up  and  see  pigeons  flying  over,  in 
their  straggling,  irregular  way,  now  thickly  and  now 
thinly,  and  often  I  have  come  upon  a  dead  tree, 
such  as  they  had  a  fondness  for,  to  that  degree 
occupied  by  them  it  was  completely  hidden,  the 
whole  looking  like  an  amazing  pyramid  of  birds. 
Whether  they  knew  me  to  be  unarmed,  or  divined 
by  some  mysterious  power  of  intuition  that  trait  in 
me  which  would  not  let  me  hurt  them,  they  would  sit 
until  I  approached  very  near,  and  could  look  into 


A   Lord  of  Lands.  265 

their  very  eyes,  and  get  a  new  notion  of  their 
surpassing  beauty,  and  the  rich  tints  of  their 
feathers.  When  they  rose  at  last,  they  made  a  noise 
hke  thunder  with  the  beating  of  their  powerful 
wings.  I  have  not  seen  a  real  pigeon  in  these  parts 
for  years,  now.  They  were  all  too  easy  to  kill, 
and  that  sealed  their  doom. 

Some  years,  and  I  never  could  make  out  what  it 
was  that  determined  one  year  from  another  in  this 
regard,  the  wood-ducks  would  flock  among  our 
oaks,  by  the  thousands,  perhaps  by  the  millions. 
It  was  something  to  see,  the  way  they  came  swirling 
down,  just  at  evening,  as  thick  as  snowflakes  in  a 
storm.  And  one  fall,  there  was  an  inundation,  for 
I  can  think  of  nothing  fitter  to  call  it,  of  gray 
squirrels.  The  trees  swarmed  with  them,  and  they 
kept  Pal,  the  dog,  in  such  a  constant  turmoil  of 
mind  by  their  impudent  chattering  and  defiant  whisk- 
ing down  into  his  very  face  with  their  great  bushy 
tails,  that  I  am  prepared  to  believe  his  heart  was 
affected  and  his  days  shortened.  In  his  eagerness 
to  get  after  these  vivacious  little  beasts,  he  made 
trial  at  last  to  cHmb  the  trees,  and  cut  no  bad  figure 
at  it,  in  view  of  his  limitations,  although  he  was 
never  in  the  least  nearer  to  catching  the  squirrels 
than  he  would  have  been  had  he  stayed  in  his 
natural  element.  Pal's  difficuhy,  it  may  be  re- 
marked in  passing,  was  not  so  much  in  getting  up 
as  in  getting  down,  figuring  a  somewhat  common 
difficulty  with  mankind,  perhaps.  He  could  climb 
to  a  considerable  height,  where  the  low  branches 
favored  him,  with  surprising  deftness,  but  he  never 


266  A  Lord  of  Lands. 

found  a  better  way  of  descending  than  to  fall,  out- 
right, only  saving  himself  as  he  might  by  clutching 
desperately  at  the  rough  bark  with  his  claws  and 
teeth.  He  looked  very  comical  at  these  times,  for 
all  the  danger  he  was  in  of  being  seriously  maimed, 
and  we  had  many  a  hearty  laugh  at  his  expense. 
Richy  shot  squirrels,  and  they  were  good  to  eat, 
when  highly  seasoned,  provided  you  could  dismiss 
from  your  mind  the  thought  that  you  were  eating 
small  cats,  than  which  they  resembled  nothing  more. 

Do  I  make  too  much  of  the  game?  Very  likely. 
I  drift  off  on  the  current  of  my  own  interest,  and 
nothing  interests  me  more  than  these  birds  of  the 
air  and  beasts  of  the  field. 

The  young  people  had  read  in  pleasant  stories 
about  the  foreign  fashion  of  mingling  play  with 
work,  and  among  the  elders,  man  and  woman,  there 
were  those  who,  having  been  born  and  partly  reared 
abroad,  could  recall  something  of  the  practice  out 
of  their  experience,  and  since  it  had  a  genial  aspect 
when  glossed  over  by  the  arts  of  fiction,  and  was 
fondly  thought  of  as  part  and  parcel  of  a  distant 
past  by  those  who  had  direct  knowledge  of  it, 
there  sprung  up  the  notion  that  it  was  a  very  good 
thing,  and  we  went  in  for  it,  and  in  particular  we 
endeavored  to  make  a  great  frolic  out  of  the  harvest- 
ing and  threshing.  But  it  turned  out  a  complete 
failure,  as  even  the  most  sanguine  and  romantic  of  us 
had  to  confess,  and  I  think  I  can  understand  why. 
The  world,  our  part  of  it,  anyway,  has  outgrown  that 
sort  of  thing.  We  have  become  a  man,  as  it  were, 
and  put  away  childish  trifling,  and  I  do  not  mean  by 


A  Lord  of  Lands.  267 

that  to  say  we  are  necessarily  better  off.  But  the 
fact  stands  accompHshed,  for  better  or  for  worse. 
What  is  writ  by  destiny  it  not  to  be  washed  away 
with  water,  even  though  the  water  is  all  tears  of  re- 
gret. We  are  a  commercial  people.  The  atmosphere 
of  poetry  is  lacking.  No  man  who  is  in  any  sense  of 
the  age  is  willing  to  stop  work  in  the  midst  of  a  busy 
day,  to  dance  a  measure  on  the  green,  however  good 
it  might  be  for  him.  The  most  you  can  expect  of 
him  is  that  he  will  set  aside  a  time  for  play,  as  well 
as  a  time  for  work,  and  far  too  often  he  has  gone 
beyond  even  that.  Modern  work  does  not  mix  with 
play  any  more  than  oil  with  water.  Work  is  be- 
come a  tremendously  serious  matter,  with  us. 

Nor  is  it  to  be  overlooked  as  a  circumstance  of 
no  significance  that  our  fathers,  who  succeeded  in 
playing  as  they  worked,  invariably  resorted  to  the 
strong  waters  to  impart  a  fictitious  gayety.  There 
is  nothing  like  the  heightening  of  wine  to  make 
a  man  think  he  is  enjoying  himself,  and  where  the 
stuff  is  drunk  in  moderation,  I  see  no  harm  in  it. 
But  here  once  more  we  moderns  are  at  a  disad- 
vantage. Whether  because  of  our  nervous  energy 
or  what  not,  we  know  not  how  to  be  moderate. 
Nothing  will  do  us  but  the  ardent  spirits  of  whiskey, 
nor  can  we  be  content  with  the  mild  intoxication 
which  gently  exalts  a  man  and  leaves  him  no  very 
deep  abyss  to  fall  into  when  it  shall  have  passed. 
Instead  of  that,  we  drink,  if  we  drink  at  all,  until  we 
are  clean  mad,  and  fit  only  for  works  of  deviltry, 
We  men  of  the  colony  all  knew  this  only  too  well, 
and  we  were  unanimous  in  the  resolution  never  to 


268  A   Lord  of  Lands. 

let  a  drop  of  liquor  of  any  sort  be  brought  on  our 
land,  not  even  beer. 

But  even  if,  by  some  miracle  of  grace,  we  could 
have  reverted  to  the  childlike  simplicity  of  the  an- 
cients, and  become  as  capable  as  they  of  delighting  in 
small  joys,  and  of  drinking  temperately,  how  should 
we  ever  make  anything  like  play  of  our  tasks,  in 
the  face  of  the  pitiless  machinery  by  means  of  which 
those  tasks  had  chiefly  to  be  done?  There  was 
room  for  romance,  nay  a  place  inviting  it  to  come 
and  tarry,  when  everything  was  done  by  hand,  in 
a  leisurely  way.  But  where  is  the  romance  to  come 
in,  now,  when,  in  the  place  of  the  dear  old  flail, 
which  a  man  might  lay  down  and  take  up  at  his 
pleasure,  there  is  the  monstrous  howling,  grinding, 
gnashing  thresher,  which  goes  from  morn  till  night 
and  never  stops  to  rest,  its  gaping  maw  clamoring 
incessantly  to  be  fed  with  sheaves  of  grain,  asking 
the  help  of  but  few  men  as  compared  with  the  old- 
time  threshing-crew,  but  forcing  those  few  to  strain 
and  strive  till  they  are  ready  to  sink  down.  Are 
we  better  oflF,  will  you  tell  me,  for  the  enterprise 
which  has,  in  a  way,  made  us  slaves;  for  the 
ingenuity  which  has  laid  it  upon  us  to  be  all  the 
time  measuring  our  endurance  against  the  endurance 
of  oak  and  iron,  and  our  strength  against  the 
strength  of  steam?  It  is  on  my  lips  to  answer  no, 
a  thousand  times  no,  and  then  I  wonder  if  I  know 
whereof  I  speak.  If  we  are  not  as  happy  as  our 
simpler  fathers  were,  it  is  perhaps  our  own  fault. 

Understand,  with  all  our  good  fun,  we  had 
nevertheless  our  periods  of  darkness,  when,  as  the 


A  Lord  of  Lands.  269 

saying  goes,  the  wind  blew  from  the  east.  Common 
people  will  get  out  of  sorts,  whether  or  no,  and  we 
w^ere  common  people,  else  this  story  would  not  be 
worth  the  paper  it  is  written  on,  even  though  I 
am  writing  it  mostly  on  sheets  of  wrapping-paper 
thriftily  saved  up  by  Ludovika  during  many  years, 
not  because  she  foresaw  any  use  for  the  stuff,  but 
because  she  was  unable  to  throw  it  away.  Plenty 
often  enough  the  air  w^ould  get  itself  charged  with 
bitterness,  and  the  spirit  of  discord  would  creep  in, 
like  a  thief  in  the  night,  to  steal  away  our  peace. 
And  the  worst  of  it  w^as  that  there  never  was  any 
reason  for  such  feeling,  not  the  slightest.  In  the 
division  of  the  fruits  of  the  earth,  in  the  allotment 
of  the  work,  we  never  had  as  much  as  the  shadow  of 
a  difference,  for  we  could  all  be  fair  and  generous  if 
we  had  time  to  bethink  us  what  we  were  about.  I 
have  somewhere  read  that  the  little  crews  which 
man  the  lighthouses  along  the  coast,  three  or  four 
persons  in  a  place  at  most,  and  often  only  two, 
completely  cut  off  from  communication  with  the 
shore,  have  to  be  changed  every  few  weeks,  as  a 
measure  of  safety,  for  the  reason  that  whereas  these 
men  are  good  friends  when  they  are  new  to  one 
another,  they  soon  say  all  that  they  have  to  say,  and 
fall  into  a  silence,  and  become  morose,  and  at  length 
conceive  for  one  another  a  genuine  aversion,  apt 
enough  to  lead  to  violence.  It  grows  out  of  the 
uncomfortable  sense  of  satiety,  I  fancy,  and  satiety 
may  well  have  been  what  ailed  us.  There  were 
more  of  us,  to  be  sure,  and  we  had  not  the 
melancholy  presence  of  the  ocean  to  weigh  us  down, 


270  A  Lord  of  Lands. 

but  instead  a  various  aspect  of  cheerfulness,  and  by 
that  we  never  got  so  bad ;  but  there  was  no  denying 
that  we  did  grow  sick  of  one  another,  and  I  have 
known  the  situation  to  be  no  better  than  tickHsh, 
what  with  the  danger  of  a  falHng  out  over  some 
trivial  matter  and  of  enmities  arising  out  of  nothing, 
yet  not  easily  to  be  smoothed  away.  A  very  little 
sting,  falling  suddenly  on  the  raw  of  ill-humor,  will 
suffice  to  upset  most  anybody  and  put  him  in  the 
way  of  doing  very  foolish  things. 

I  have  spoken  of  the  part  which  the  little  children 
had  in  holding  us  faithful  to  our  best  interests  when 
the  homesickness  oppressed  us,  and  now  I  have 
it  to  say  that  they  served  us  equally  well,  in  their 
unconscious  way,  in  the  emergency  of  the  east  wind, 
as  often  as  it  blowed.  They  were  an  element  of 
peril,  too,  for  they  were  always  falling  out,  among 
themselves,  and  giving  up  to  the  stormiest  outbursts 
of  passion,  coming  often  to  blows,  and  sometimes 
serious  blows,  too;  and  their  battles,  trifling  though 
they  were,  were  sufficient  occasion  for  resentment  on 
the  part  of  parents  who  were  in  the  mood  and  look- 
ing for  trouble,  as  the  saying  is.  Mothers,  and 
fathers,  too,  would  dash  out,  and  part  the  combat- 
ants, and  sputter  hateful  things  the  while,  and  go 
back  home  feeling  ill-used  and  ugly;  but  do  you  im- 
agine the  youngsters  would  let  it  go  at  that?  Not 
they.  Though  there  lay  upon  them  the  stern  inter- 
dict of  their  elders,  whereby  they  were  never  again  to 
play  with  one  another,  or  even  so  much  as  speak 
with  one  another,  in  an  hour's  time,  or  less,  they 
would  have  gotten  together  in  some  way,  and  be- 


A   Lord  of  Lands.  271 

come  as  good  friends  as  ever.  They  shamed  the 
spite  which  nursed  itself  and  would  not  be  reconciled. 
Before  the  tears  of  wrath  were  dry  upon  their 
cheeks,  their  eyes  were  being  lighted  up  with  smiles 
of  amity  and  forgiveness,  and  so  they  taught  us 
our  lesson.  Out  of  the  mouths  of  babes  and 
sucklings  He  speaketh  His  wisdom. 


CHAPTER  XII. 

By  the  end  of  the  third  year,  to  such  a  pitch  of 
assurance  had  we  come,  not  only  by  reason  of  our 
prosperity,  which  was  not  contemptible,  but  as 
well  because  of  our  trials,  since  we  had  comfortably 
survived  these,  severe  though  they  were, — such  a 
confidence  had  we  acquired,  I  repeat,  that  we  were 
minded  to  work  no  longer  in  common,  and  accord- 
ingly we  divided  up  the  remaining  debt,  giving  each 
man  his  equal  share,  to  wrestle  with  henceforth  by 
himself.  There  was  something  of  a  necessity  for 
this  step,  arising  out  of  the  inevitable  differences  of 
opinion  among  us  as  to  the  proper  way  to  do  about 
debt.  I  say  inevitable,  because  a  man's  attitude 
toward  debt  is  largely  a  matter  of  his  temperament, 
and  men's  temperaments  are  as  various  as  their 
faces.  Some  of  us  were  for  paying  off  as  fast 
as  possible,  while  others  were  for  taking  care 
of  the  interest  and  a  little  more,  reserving  the 
balance  of  our  earnings  for  betterments  and  es- 
pecially for  the  purchase  of  stock  and  improved 
appliances.  Certain  peoples,  and  I  have  the  Ger- 
mans and  Scandinavians  particularly  in  mind,  are 
born,  as  it  would  seem,  with  a  horror  of  debt. 
They  attach  a  disgrace  to  it,  and  can  never  rest 
easy  under  it.     They  will  do  without  things  they 


A   Lord  of  Lands.  273 

really  need  rather  than  go  in  debt  for  them, 
no  matter  how  good  a  prospect  they  have  of  being 
able  to  pay  in  due  time,  and  as  long  as  they  owe 
a  penny  they  deem  themselves  bound  not  to  spend 
a  penny  for  anything  else.  I  can  respect  their 
sentiment,  but  I  cannot  participate  in  it.  Is  not  the 
man  who  will  not  avail  himself  of  his  blessings, 
and  surely  commercial  credit  is  one  of  ours,  touched 
with  a  species  of  insanity?  Somebody  says  that 
virtue  is  not  the  opposite  of  vice,  but  the  mean 
between  two  vices.  Deliver  me  from  the  deadbeat, 
by  all  means,  but  likewise  deliver  me  from  the  man 
who  thinks  of  a  debt  as  a  pestilence  which  will 
destroy  him  body  and  soul.  We  had  several  of 
him,  with  us,  and  that  meant  there  was  only  one 
thing  to  do,  namely,  separate,  agree  to  disagree, 
and  each  go  his  own  way.  Otherwise  there  must 
be  constant  friction,  a  constant  overruling  of  a 
minority  by  a  majority.  The  division  was  pro- 
ductive of  a  better  feeling  all  around,  how  much 
better  we  would  not  have  thought  possible  before- 
hand. Each  man  shouldered  his  load  with  a 
cheerful  sense  of  independence  which  was  worth 
more  to  him,  I  fancy,  than  the  sense  of  collective 
security  which  it  displaced.  Nature  makes  the  fam- 
ily the  social  unit,  and  it  is  pretty  hard  to  improve  on 
her  arrangements,  I  find. 

Bear  in  mind,  however,  that  we  were  not  making 
an  end  of  all  community.  In  any  rural  neighbor- 
hood, as  I  have  good  reason  to  testify,  since  I  have 
had  endless  benefit  of  it,  there  will  always  be  more 
or  less  community,  and  among  us,  moreover,  there 
18 


274  ^  Lord  of  Lands. 

was  especially  the  strong  community  of  spirit  and 
hope,  by  which  we  had  a  great  interest  in  one 
another's  welfare,  and  a  great  wish  for  the  success 
of  all.  We  have  always  owned  many  things  of  the 
nature  of  chattels  in  common,  to  our  advantage, 
for  thus  we  enjoy  facilities  ordinarily  denied  farmers 
of  our  class.  No  farmer  with  but  forty  acres  could 
afford  to  own  fine  breeding  stock,  by  himself,  or 
the  most  approved  machinery,  which  is  very 
expensive,  but  all  these  we  have,  and  feel  them  no 
burden,  since  we  have  to  pay  but  a  sixteenth  of  the 
cost  of  them.  I  may  describe  our  practice,  perhaps, 
as  a  mixture  of  community  and  severalty,  as  much 
of  each  as  makes  for  thorough  comfort  and 
convenience,  without  regard  to  any  fine  adherence 
to  doctrines. 

Here,  then,  we  will  leave  our  neighbors  to  their 
privacy,  prying  no  further  into  their  affairs,  except 
as  these  may  touch  the  house  of  Fitzgerald,  whose 
chronicles  shall  concern  us  henceforth.  Of  the 
colony  at  large  let  it  sufiice  to  say  that  there  has 
been  no  time  when  blessed  plenty,  still  blessed 
though  sometimes  coarse  and  rude,  has  not  dwelt 
among  us.  If  luxury  has  passed  us  by,  I,  for  one, 
am  not  sorry.  At  all  events,  the  ravening  wolf, 
which,  if  not  at  our  very  doors,  in  the  old  order, 
was  never  further  away  than  the  next  corner,  we 
have  known  no  more,  and  though  our  success  com- 
prised no  more  than  that,  it  were  worth  while,  I 
think. 

Our  first  independent  venture  was  the  purchase  of 
a  big  bay  mare,  which  we  named  Viola,  or,  rather, 


A   Lord  of  Lands.  275 

the  girls  named  her,  and  the  rest  of  us  acquiesced, 
though  Richy  had  a  wish  to  call  her  Babe,  as  being 
a  name  more  readily  spoken  and  otherwise  fitter,  in 
his   estimation.     Viola   was   powerful   and   willing 
and  highly  responsive  to  favors,  and  became  withal 
like   one   of   the    family,   her   sympathy   with   our 
undertakings  in  which  she  was  asked  to  assist  was 
that  marked.     Many   is  the  acre   of  land   I   have 
plowed  with  Viola.     In  our  light  soil,  which  turns 
easily,  and  should  never  be  deeply  stirred  lest  the 
barren  gravel  of  the  subsoil  be  brought  to  the  sur- 
face, she  would  pull  a  twelve-inch  plow,  with  now 
and  'then  a  short  breathing-spell,  if  the  weather  was 
warm,  and  the  occasional  stimulation  of  a  nubbin 
of  corn,  such  as  I  provided  myself  with  a  good 
supply   of   whenever   we    fared    forth,    and   of   so 
obliging  a  temper  was  she  that  I  never  had  to  use  a 
rein  with  her,  although  a  horse  plowing  alone  has 
especial    need    of    guidance,    owing    to    the    hard 
necessity  of  keeping  up  out  of  the  furrow.     Even  a 
stupid  horse,  which  Viola  never  was,  has  sufficient 
discernment  to  discover  very  presently  that  veering 
ofif  toward  the  plowed  land  will  serve  to  make  the 
draft  lighter,  however  little  it  hastens  the  completion 
of  •the  work,  but  Viola  had  a  true  sense  of  her 
responsibilities  and  was  never  false  to  them.     No 
horse  knew  better  than  she  what  was  the  effect  of 
veering  off,  but  she  was  above  shirking.     It  was 
not  in  the  plowing,  however,  or  in  any  work  about 
the  place  that  Viola  and  I  were  associated  most,  but 
in  the  going  to  and  fro  with  the  truck  for  market, 
for  there  never  was  a  week,  in  those  early  years, 


276  A  Lord  of  Lands. 

that  I  did  not  drive  to  the  city  once,  and  more 
often  twice  than  once,  and  not  seldom  three  times, 
that  is,  in  the  gardening  season,  when  we  had 
truck  to  sell.  It  was  a  long,  weary  road,  sixteen 
miles  of  it  to  be  doubled  over,  through  heavy  sand 
much  of  the  way,  and  we  met  with  very  Httle 
company  beyond  each  other.  Here  again  Viola 
showed  her  admirable  sense  of  duty  and  her  high 
devotion,  for  as  often  as  she  came  to  the  tolerable 
spots  in  the  road  she  would  break  into  a  trot  with- 
out a  word  of  urging  from  me,  and  keep  up  the 
pace  until  the  billows  of  sand  engulfed  the  wheels 
anew,  and  pulled  her  back  like  a  clog.  I  learned  to 
place  great  reliance  on  her  understanding,  almost 
as  if  she  were  human,  and  she  never  failed  me,  I 
believe,  anyway,  never  in  aught  of  consequence. 
Once  she  saved  me  from  being  robbed  and  perhaps 
murdered,  though  whether  she  clearly  divined  the 
fearful  possibilities  of  the  case  or  acted  more  out 
of  some  caprice,  I  leave  you  to  decide  after  you  have 
heard  the  story.  We  were  jogging  along  towards 
home  in  the  early  autumn  twilight,  having  sold  our 
load  for  a  snug  sum  which  I  had  in  my  pocket, 
when  suddenly  two  men  stepped  out  in  the  road 
just  ahead,  and  stood  waiting  for  us  to  come  up  in 
a  manner  which  left  me  in  no  doubt  that  their  in- 
tentions were  of  the  worst.  I  was  frozen  with 
fear,  for  I  was  quite  unarmed,  and  if  I  had  car- 
ried a  whole  arsenal  I  could  have  made  no  ef- 
fective use  of  it,  I  was  trembling  that  violently 
in  every  limb.  I  should  have  submitted  to  their 
will,  like  the  dumb  ox  to  the  ax,  but  for  Viola. 


A   Lord  of  Lands.  277 

As  a  general  thing,  she  was  slow  to  take  fright, 
having  a  rational  turn  of  mind,  but  now,  at  sight 
of  the  men  standing  in  the  road,  she  stopped 
short,  threw  her  head  high  up  in  the  air,  snorted 
once  or  twice,  and  then,  with  a  precipitation 
which  all  but  threw  me  off  the  seat,  she  sprang 
forward,  with  the  bits  in  her  teeth,  as  frantic- 
ally as  any  runaway  you  ever  saw,  and  swept 
past  those  men  like  the  wind.  They  waved 
their  hands  and  shouted,  but  they  made  no  imp-res- 
sion  on  Viola.  She  would  have  knocked  them  down 
and  trampled  them  under  her  great  feet  if  they  had 
not  dodged  back  out  of  her  way,  at  the  last  mo- 
ment. When  she  had  run  in  this  fashion  upwards 
of  a  mile,  she  slowed  down,  of  her  own  will,  and 
jogged  on  as  usual. 

I  remember  Viola  wath  unbounded  esteem,  and 
I  am  reluctant  to  set  down  what  Ludovika  was 
never  tired  of  saying  of  her,  namely,  that  she  was 
perfectly  safe  for  a  woman  to  drive.  Beyond  a 
doubt  Ludovika  meant  well,  by  this,  but  I  consider 
the  implication  degrading.  How  a  horse  can  be 
perfectly  safe  for  a  woman  to  drive  and  retain  any 
shred  of  generous  spirit,  is  beyond  me. 

Except  when  we  were  in  a  great  hurry,  we  did 
our  heavy  work  at  home  with  oxen.  These  were 
a  yoke  which  Richy  had  acquired,  out  of  the  pleni- 
tude of  bull-calves,  and  broken  with  infinite  pains, 
until  they  were  the  very  pattern  of  docihty.  The 
girls,  who  had  a  passion  for  naming  things  in  a 
romantic  way,  as  witness  Ingomar  and  Viola, 
were  for  calling  the  oxen  Damon  and    Pythias,  in 


278  A  Lord  of  Lands. 

token  of  their  steadfast  friendship  for  each  other, 
as  especially  shown  in  their  touching  way,  when 
they  were  turned  out  loose  in  the  pasture  and  might 
go  wherever  they  liked,  of  remaining  nevertheless 
side  by  side,  as  if  they  were  still  yoked,  and  of 
never  lying  down  at  night  unless  closely  back  to 
back,  one  facing  in  one  direction  and  one  in  the 
other  (an  inherited  instinct,  some  say,  which  still 
mounts  guard  against  the  stealthy  approach  of  a 
foe  long  since  extinct),  but  Richy  had  a  mind  of 
his  own,  and  held  to  it,  exercising  the  right  of 
proprietorship,  and  the  cattle  w^ere  named  Buck  and 
Bright.  I  love  oxen.  There  is  a  solace  and  uplift 
for  a  fretful  man  in  their  steady  patience.  Nor  can 
I  think  it  is  out  of  stupidity  and  insensibility,  as 
some  declare,  that  oxen  are  patient.  I  greatly  pre- 
fer to  attribute  it  to  their  higher  appreciation 
of  the  eternal  verities,  and  they  put  me  in  mind  of 
those  Brahmin  monks  w^ho  find  heavenly  peace  in 
persistent  meditation.  Certainly  Buck  and  Bright 
were  not  lacking  in  intelligence,  and  in  one  of  the 
circuses  we  went  to  there  were  two  steers  which 
performed  incredible  tricks,  and  all  wdth  an  air  of 
discrimination,  showing  what  the  species  is  capable 
of. 

Richy  is  fond  of  oxen,  too,  but  his  grounds  are 
not  my  grounds. 

"  The  great  advantage  of  an  ox  over  a  horse," 
says  he,  "  is  that  when  an  ox  has  outlived  his  use- 
fulness, you  can  still  eat  him,  but  a  horse  has  to  go 
to  the  crows.'' 

This  strikes  me  as  extremely  shocking.     Richy 


A  Lord  of  Lands.  279 

IS  like  his  mother,  in  much.  And  by  the  way,  I 
have  an  especial  reason  for  saying  so.  In  the  fall 
of  the  first  year,  there  was  a  great  amount  of  corn 
to  husk,  and  in  those  days  husking  had  to  be 
done  by  hand.  It  was  grievous  work  for  us,  soft 
as  we  were,  and  the  harsh,  dry  stalks  soon  had  our 
fingers  in  a  most  painful  state.  Richy  was  just 
turning  thirteen,  but  he  was  willing  to  be  thought 
a  man  when  there  was  work  to  do,  and  he  husked 
with  the  rest,  and  never  a  whimper  escaped  him 
until  Ludovika's  sharp  motherly  eyes  saw  that  some- 
thing was  wrong,  and  with  that  she  made  the  boy 
own  up  that  he  was  being  kept  awake  night  after 
night  with  the  aching  of  his  lacerated  hands.  I 
was  vastly  pleased,  when  she  told  me  of  it,  thinking 
of  the  fine  spirit  of  the  fellow,  rather  than  his 
sufferings. 

"  It's  the  true  Irish  grit,"  says  I. 

"  And  why,"  says  Ludovika,  with  a  wonderful 
quickness,  for  her,  **  is  it  always  the  Irish  of  him?  " 

Her  rebuke  was  only  just,  and  so  I  write  it 
down,  here  and  now,  and  wish  there  may  be  no 
misunderstanding  about  it,  that  Richy  is  in  much 
like  his  mother. 

Have  you  ever  thought  how  that  it  is  the  trials 
and  the  adversities  which  give  spice  to  our  recollec- 
tions, as  if,  in  the  final  analysis,  it  were  they  which 
made  life  worth  living?  It  is  not  the  bounty  of  that 
wonderful  first  year's  harvest  which  I  recall  most 
fondly,  but  precisely  those  sore  fingers,  though  the 
misery  was  no  small  thing  in  the  time  of  it.  Is 
it  because  trials  endured  are  a  species  of  compliment 


2  8o  A  Lord  of  Lands. 

to  our  great  qualities,  and  flatter  our  vanity, 
unconsciously  ? 

But  the  great  staples  of  agriculture,  wheat  and 
corn  and  oats  and  rye  and  potatoes,  these  are  not 
for  the  forty-acre  fellows.  Because  they  are  the 
prime  necessities  of  life,  they  will  always  be  com- 
mon and  cheap,  relatively  speaking,  and  the  race  to 
make  them  still  commoner  and  cheaper  is  too  hot 
for  the  little  men.  The  big  fish  (if  1  can  make  my- 
self clearer  by  mixing  my  metaphors,  who  am  I  to 
let  myself  be  frightened  out  of  it?)  cut  under  the 
small  fry  every  time.  Ten  thousand  acres  in  a 
field  permit  of  economies  that  put  ten  acres  in  a 
field  quite  out  of  the  running.  Wheat  we  had  to 
give  up,  willy  nilly;  and  corn,  though  it  served  us 
grandly  in  those  first  years  of  uncertainty,  and 
though  it  is  a  universal  food  of  the  highest  merit, 
we  let  go  likewise,  in  time,  pretty  much  because  we 
found  ourselves  working,  by  little  and  little,  into 
better  things. 

By  better  things  I  mean,  of  course,  more 
remunerative  things.  As  regards  real  worth,  pop- 
corn is  not  for  a  moment  comparable  with  field- 
corn.  Yet  popcorn  has  yielded  us  far  and  away 
a  greater  profit  than  field-corn  in  its  stead  could 
possibly  have  yielded. 

The  neighbors  laughed  when  we  planted  a  whole 
acre  to  popcorn.  They  thought  we  intended  eating 
so  much,  ourselves,  and  when  we  told  them  we 
expected  to  sell  it,  they  laughed  the  more. 

*'  Why  don't  you  raise  pigs  for  the  whistles  their 
tails  will  make?  "  said  Tucker,  in  a  vein  of  friendly 


A   Lord  of  Lands.  281 

sarcasm,  indicating  his  contempt  of  an  undertaking 
which  looked  to  supplying  the  market  with  a  mere 
frivolity.  Of  course  we  could  afford  to  let  them 
laugh.  Demand  is  demand,  and  it  creates  value, 
whether  it  is  based  on  foolishness  or  wisdom,  and 
that  we  knew,  and  only  wondered  at  our  neighbors 
in  their  blindness. 

The  project  originated  with  the  children.  They 
were  fond  of  popcorn,  as  the  young  always  are,  I 
believe,  and  one  of  the  prospects  which  had  all  along 
illuminated  the  new  future  to  them  was  the  prospect 
of  raising  the  cherished  comestible  and  having  all 
they  could  eat  of  it,  at  any  time.  They  had  their 
patch  of  popcorn  from  the  beginning,  a  few  feet 
square  of  it.  But  there  came  a  day,  as  we  sat  in 
family  council,  considering  ways  and  means,  when 
one  of  the  girls  (which  one  has  never  been  settled, 
and  I  cannot  take  it  upon  myself  to  decide  a  point 
of  such  delicacy)  was  moved  to  express  a  curiosity 
as  to  whence  came  the  vast  quantities  of  popcorn 
sold  in  the  city,  at  the  exorbitant  price  of  five  cents 
for  a  small  bag,  which,  in  the  raw  state,  would  not 
be  much  beyond  a  teaspoonful  of  kernels.  With 
that,  two  or  three  spoke  up,  all  at  once,  and  asked 
why  could  not  we  raise  popcorn  to  sell,  and  it 
needed  no  more  to  give  Ludovika,  with  her  quick 
insight  for  commercial  possibilities,  her  inspiration. 

**  Why  not?  "  quoth  she,  and  looked  at  me,  where- 
upon I  caught  the  inspiration,  too,  and  the  upshot 
was  that  instead  of  a  mere  nook  of  popcorn,  we 
planted,  as  I  say,  a  whole  acre. 

As  often  happened,  before  and  after,  our  good. 


282  A  Lord  of  Lands. 

though  stern  teacher,  Adversity,  had  to  step  in  and 
set  us  right  before  we  got  fairly  under  way.  Our 
first  popcorn,  that  is,  our  first  on  a  large  scale,  we 
planted  in  the  out-fields,  alongside  our  field-corn, 
and  the  two  were  in  blossom  together,  and  they 
mixed,  and  when  we  came  to  make  trial  of  our 
popcorn,  it  would  not  pop  with  proper  vivacity. 
We  had  missed  the  target,  this  first  shot,  but  we  had 
got  the  range.  The  next  year  we  planted  five  acres 
of  popcorn  at  the  furthest  corner  of  our  land, 
sufficiently  remote  from  its  kindred  to  preclude  evil 
communication,  and,  moreover,  in  order  to  make 
doubly  sure  of  results,  we  held  off  with  the  planting 
some  ten  days,  in  order  that  the  two  species  should 
not  be  in  blossom  at  the  same  time,  and  now  we 
hit  the  bull's-eye,  plump  in  the  center.  We  har- 
vested something  like  fifty  bushels  to  the  acre, 
counting  thirty-five  pounds  to  the  bushel,  cobs  and 
all,  and  the  quality  was  unexceptionable,  and  the 
market  absorbed  it  without  demur  at  three  cents  a 
pound.  I  showed  Tucker  the  figures,  and  he 
laughed,  but  rather  in  a  sheepish  way,  I  thought, 
and  without  a  word  about  pig's  tails  and  whistles. 
You  may  say  I  was  unwise  not  to  keep  our  success 
a  secret,  lest  we  invite  competition,  but  I  assure  you 
there  was  no  great  danger,  such  is  the  reluctance 
with  which  the  average  farmer  of  the  old  school 
takes  up  with  new  wrinkles.  We  still  stick  to  pop- 
corn, and  find  it  worth  while,  though  not  always  a 
distinguished  winner.  One  year  the  price  rose  to 
five  cents,  but  the  yield  was  short,  and  another  year, 
when  the  yield  was  gigantic,  the  price  sunk  to  a 


A  Lord  of  Lands.  283 

cent  a  pound,  but  even  at  that  low  rate  we  were 
reaping  upwards  of  thirty  dollars  from  an  acre  of 
ground,  not  a  bad  figure  at  all. 

But  it  was  the  home  plot,  though  there  was 
hardly  more  than  four  acres  of  it,  after  you  counted 
out  the  space  occupied  by  the  buildings,  which  did 
the  wonders  for  us,  and  this  was  owing  mostly, 
let  me  confess  it  at  once  and  get  it  off  my  mind,  to 
Ludovika.  Germans,  and  especially  German  women, 
garden  by  instinct,  much  as  a  duck  swims,  and 
Ludovika  is  no  exception,  for  all  the  feeling  she 
formerly  had  against  husbandry.  Once,  in  the 
midst  of  her  triumphs,  I  asked  her  could  she  be  the 
same  woman  who  had  declared  she  would  rather 
be  dead  than  live  on  a  farm,  and  she  answered  that 
she  could  be,  and  was,  that  only  the  wisest  of  men 
knew  himself,  and  she  was  not  even  a  wise  woman, 
and  I  saw  she  was  pained,  and  I  never  spoke  of  the 
matter  again.  But  I  often  thought  of  it,  and  how 
that  many  another  woman,  similarly  disposed  against 
farming,  might  get  to  know  herself  better,  on  trial. 
But  at  all  events  Ludovika's  aptitude  for  growing 
the  more  delicate  edibles  rose  to  the  level  of  an 
art.  The  coarse  and  common  business  of  raising 
potatoes  and  corn  and  the  like  she  seemed  in  a 
way  to  scorn,  as  a  goldsmith  might  scorn  wagons 
and  plows.  Salads,  and  pickles,  and  relishes,  the 
things  which  in  strictness  are  worth  nothing,  since 
a  man  would  soon  starve  to  death  with  nothing  else 
to  eat,  but  are  none  the  less  eagerly  sought  after, 
these  Ludovika  made  her  study,  and  about  every- 
thing she  laid  her  hand  to  yielded  back  a  quick 


284  A  Lord  of  Lands. 

profit.  Her  knowledge  of  the  whims  and  fancies  of 
city  people,  partly  by  her  experience  and  partly  by 
her  delicate  intuition,  was  exhaustive  and  exact, 
and  never  was  knowledge  more  deserving  of  the 
name  of  power.  If  I  were  to  describe  her  method 
in  a  word,  I  should  call  it  a  method  of  details. 
*'  Despise  not  the  day  of  small  things,"  she  would 
retort,  as  often  as  her  minute  care  for  the  trifles 
moved  me  to  some  outburst  of  impatience,  and  that, 
I  should  add,  was  less  and  less  often  as  time  passed 
and  it  slowly  dawned  upon  me  that  these  very 
trifles,  as  they  seem  in  themselves,  were  truly 
important  in  virtue  of  the  whims  and  fancies 
aforementioned.  I  have  known  her  to  work  an 
hour  over  the  mere  arrangement  of  the  load  I 
was  to  market,  altering  and  altering,  until  she  had 
the  look  of  it  exactly  to  her  liking.  "  The  first 
impression  is  half  the  battle,"  quoth  she,  and  truer 
word  never  was  spoken.  I  can  testify  that  the  sale 
of  the  truck  was  promoted  by  these  devices,  and  in 
no  small  measure,  either.  Our  vegetables  were  no 
whit  better  than  plenty  which  were  offered  alongside 
them,  but  they  were  displayed  with  such  a  nice 
eye  for  effect  that  people  derived  the  notion  they 
were  something  entirely  different  and  greatly 
superior. 

Moreover,  this  woman  found  herself  endowed 
with  a  most  remarkable  grasp  of  certain  evasive 
distinctions  of  color  and  form.  I  doubt  if  the 
equal  of  it  could  easily  be  found,  though  that  may 
be  the  opinion  of  my  pride,  since  she  is  my  wife. 
I  think  particularly  of  the  cucumber  pickles  and  the 


A  Lord  of  Lands.  285 

onion  pickles,  what  great  things  this  trait  of 
Ludovika's  enabled  ns  to  do  with  them.  We  would 
let  the  cucumbers  grow  until  the  largest  of  them 
had  come  to  the  length  of  a  couple  of  inches  or 
so,  and  after  that  we  would  pick  the  vines  over 
every  day,  taking  whatever  was  of  pickling  size. 
My  way  would  have  been  to  throw  these  cucumbers 
together  indiscriminately,  for  they  looked  pretty 
much  alike  to  me,  but  Ludovika's  eye  separated 
them  into  no  fewer  than  twelve  sorts,  differing  not 
only  in  size  but  in  shape,  and  she  carefully  selected 
them,  with  the  help  of  the  children,  who  under  her 
directions  soon  became  almost  as  adept  as  herself, 
and  you  would  hardly  conceive,  unless  you  were  to 
see  the  result  for  yourself,  to  what  an  extent  the 
discrimination  bettered  the  appearance  of  the  stock. 
We  laid  them  down  in  brine,  in  wooden  firkins 
which  had  been  scoured  till  they  shone,  the  fat 
cucumbers  in  one  firkin,  the  lean  in  another,  the 
crooked  here  and  the  straight  there,  not  tumbled 
in  to  lie  as  they  fell,  but  placed  in  perfect  order, 
according  to  some  design  which  suggested  it- 
self to  the  master  spirit  (a  favorite  design,  where 
the  cucumbers  were  rather  long  and  slender, 
as  the  most  of  them  were,  was  to  lay  them  with 
their  small  ends  all  pointing  exactly  to  the 
center)  and  I  tell  you  they  were  not  to  be  passed 
by  lightly.  People  bought  them  eagerly  and  went 
away  believing  they  had  secured  something  very 
new  and  very  exclusive  (there's  a  double  charm  in 
the  sweetness  which  nobody  else  can  enjoy.)  and 
often  they  would  come  back  and  tell  me  how  that 


286  A  Lord  of  Lands. 

they  tasted  better  than  any  pickles  they  had  ever 
eaten,  and  ask  me,  with  a  show  of  anxiety,  when 
I  was  Hkely  to  have  more.  Was  it  any  business 
of  mine  to  be  arguing  them  out  of  illusions  which 
they  enjoyed  and  I  profited  by?  We  had  even  better 
success  with  the  onions,  which  could  be  made  to 
look  a  choicer  article,  in  their  neat  glass  bottles. 
They  were  in  assorted  sizes,  too,  and  never  an  onion 
went  in  unless  it  was  cleanly  formed  and  white  and 
firm.  There  was  every  now  and  then  a  very  dwarf 
onion,  made  such  by  the  accidents  of  light  soil  and 
thick  sowing,  and  by  nothing  else  in  the  world. 
They  were  hardly  bigger  than  a  marrowfat  pea, 
and,  if  the  truth  must  be  told,  of  a  strong,  bitter 
taste.     I  was  for  casting  them  out,  as  of  no  value. 

"  Why,"  I  demanded,  "  should  people  ever  buy 
the  likes  of  them?  " 

"  Because  they  look  so  cunning,  of  course,"  said 
Ludovika,  loftily. 

And  do  you  know,  the  dear,  stupid  public  fairly 
raved  over  those  little  onions,  and  cheerfully  paid  a 
double  price  for  them?  Even  the  other  gardeners 
who  frequented  the  market  took  them  to  be  some 
new  and  mysterious  variety,  and  tried  to  sound  me 
as  to  where  the  seed  was  to  be  got,  whereupon  I 
assumed  an  air  of  impenetrable  secrecy,  and  hope 
to  be  forgiven  for  it. 

Here  is  Ludovika's  formula,  and  I  submit  it  is 
pretty  shrewd: 

"  People  eat  whatever  they  like  the  taste  of,  to 
be  sure,  but  they  taste  of  whatever  they  like  the 
looks  of,  and  if  they  like  the  looks  of  a  thing  very, 


A  Lord  of  Lands.  287 

very  much,  there's  not  much  danger  but  it  will  taste 
all  right." 

Her  supremest  achievement,  however,  was  the 
berries.  It  took  her  no  longer  than  one  season 
to  find  out  that  the  wild  berries,  and  especially  the 
wild  strawberries,  have  a  flavor  all  their  own,  which 
a  little  imagination  might  render  finer  than  that 
of  the  garden  berry,  anyway,  the  imagination  of 
city  people,  so  open  to  the  suggestion  that  rarity 
and  delicacy  are  one  and  the  same  thing.  Ludovika's 
first  notion  was  to  gather  wild  berries  as  they  grew, 
and  sell  them  as  such,  and  while  they  went  off  well, 
at  a  fancy  figure,  the  labor  of  picking  them,  scattered 
here  and  there  and  everywhere,  as  they  were,  was 
too  great.  Her  next  notion  was  to  transplant  a  lot 
of  the  wild  vines  to  our  plot,  with  the  thought  that 
cultivation  might  render  them  more  productive, 
without  divesting  the  fruit  of  its  peculiar  flavor, 
and  now  she  was  on  the  right  track.  Away  out 
at  the  far  corner  of  the  section,  under  the  biggest 
jack-oak  I  ever  saw  anywhere,  the  children  had 
found  wild  berries  of  unusual  traits,  growing  on 
stout  vines  fit  to  stand  the  grief  of  transplantation, 
long,  slender  berries,  of  a  gorgeous  deep  purple 
color,  and  having  a  taste  which  may  or  may  not 
have  resembled  that  of  the  drug  rhubarb,  that  most 
atrocious  of  all  medicaments,  and  at  all  events  was 
undeniably  distinctive,  and  I  will  ask  you,  as  I 
asked  my  own  conscience  in  that  day,  if  people  are 
rightly  induced  to  like  pickled  olives,  what  crime 
was  there  in  inducing  them  to  like  these  berries? 
The  vines  throve  in  the  garden,  and  bore  lavishly, 


288  A   Lord  of  Lands. 

and  all  went  well,  for  when  I  carried  the  berries  to 
market  and  boldly  asked  fifteen  cents  a  box  for 
them,  whereas  the  best  of  the  improved  berries 
brought  seven  or  eight,  they  made  a  veritable  sensa- 
tion, and  after  a  little  a  grocer  took  all  we  had,  and 
we  sent  them  to  him  by  express  every  morning.  The 
wild  raspberries  we  transplanted,  too,  but  they  were 
not  an  equal  success.  For  some  reason  which  I 
could  not  fathom,  people  chose  to  think  them  no  bet- 
ter than  the  berries  they  could  buy  for  half  the  price. 
Whims  are  whims,  and  you  have  to  be  prepared  to 
get  the  heavy  end  of  the  club  now  and  then. 

Always  with  an  eye  strictly  to  business,  Ludovika 
took  up  bushes  of  the  wild  rose  and  set  them  out  in 
the  garden,  likewise,  not  thinking  to  improve  the 
flowers,  for  that  were  impossible,  but  rather  that 
she  might  have  them  handy,  and  she  made  up  sweet 
little  sprays  of  these,  along  with  just  the  right 
amount  of  greenery,  and  wet  moss  to  keep  them 
fresh,  for  nothing  wilts  like  a  wild  rose,  and  sent 
them  along  by  me  to  be  given  away  to  our  good 
customers.  These  roses,  and  the  tons  and  tons  of 
wild  flowers  of  other  kinds  which  I  have  also  carried 
away,  purchased  good  will,  and  I  doubt  not  brought 
back  many  a  customer  whom  we  otherwise  might 
never  have  seen  again,  for  they  conveyed  a  grateful 
whiff  of  the  woods  and  fields,  such  as  the  inhabitants 
of  the  town,  jaded  with  artificiality,  could  not  well 
help  but  be  pleased  with.  Considering  them  rightly, 
with  all  their  remote  effects  in  view,  I  should  say 
the  wild  flowers  I  took  along  to  give  away  were 
quite  as  profitable  as  any  freight  I  carried. 


A  Lord  of  Lands.  289 

But  I  am  not  willing  to  leave  the  impression  that 
all  the  fine  enterprises  were  of  Ludovika's  initiation, 
for  such  was  not  the  case.  My  own  wits,  what 
few  I  have,  were  not  idle,  as  will  now  appear,  I 
hope. 

There  obtained  among  our  neighbors  of  the  old 
native  stock  the  custom  of  doctoring  with  simples, 
or  so  they  called  them,  meaning  such  homely 
remedies  as  decoctions  of  herbs,  or  doses  otherwise 
prepared  from  the  roots  and  leaves  of  familiar 
plants.  Some  of  the  old  folks  made  quite  a 
pretense  at  scientific  exactness,  and  had  a  great 
list  of  plants  which  held  medicinal  virtue,  and 
thought  themselves  competent  to  prescribe  for 
almost  any  kind  of  illness.  Some  of  the  plants 
grew  wild,  but  some  had  to  be  cultivated,  and  at 
every  farm  where  the  old  people  still  survived,  you 
were  likely  to  find  a  corner  of  the  garden  given 
over  to  "  yarbs,"  as  they  had  a  way  of  speaking  the 
word,  in  their  quaint  dialect.  The  younger  genera- 
tion went  in  more  for  the  patent  preparations,  which 
may  have  been,  after  all,  nothing  more  than  the 
old  simples  dressed  up  with  flavors,  but  still  there 
was  a  vast  amount,  as  it  seemed  to  me,  of  dosing 
in  the  old-fashioned  way,  people  taking  their 
medicine  regularly,  as  they  took  their  food,  whether 
anything  ailed  them  or  not.  Our  neighbors  of  the 
former  generation,  whom  we  looked  up  to  with 
great  and  growing  respect,  were  forever  claiming 
wonderful  things  for  their  remedies,  and  urging 
us  to  make  trial  of  them,  in  such  a  kindly,  solicitous 
way  that  we  could  not  do  less  than  yield,  now  and 
19 


290  A  Lord  of  Lands. 

then,  though  never  gaining  much  faith,  and  it  was 
in  that  way  we  got  to  know  about  thoroughwort, 
or  boneset,  the  latter  being  the  commonest  name, 
and  as  correct  as  any,  I  beHeve.  Boneset,  beyond 
any  reasonable  doubt,  has  merit,  although  it  is 
none  of  your  miraculous  cure-alls.  It  is  a  simple 
remedy  for  simple  ills,  such  as  all  ills  begin  with 
being,  and  that  is  the  point  I  have  always  laid 
emphasis  on.  It  will  not  cure  consumption  in  its 
last  stages,  nor  inflammatory  rheumatism,  but  as 
likely  as  not  these  desperate  maladies  had  their  first 
beginnings  in  a  cold,  and  boneset  will  knock  a  cold 
into  a  cocked  hat.  I  have  been  heard  to  say  that  if 
everyone  were  to  take  a  generous  dose  of  boneset 
every  day,  particularly  in  winter,  the  doctors  and 
the  druggists  would  have  to  hunt  up  some  new 
business  to  engage  in,  for  the  reason  that  there 
would  be  no  more  sickness  for  them  to  fatten  on, 
but  of  course  I  do  not  mean  all  of  that.  It  was  in 
the  hot  pursuit  of  trade  that  I  gave  voice  to  this 
sentiment,  and  I  claim  the  merchant's  right  to  be 
dispensed  from  a  rigid  justification  of  it.  I  am 
satisfied  that  nobody  was  seriously  led  astray,  for 
nobody  expects  a  man  in  active  business,  any  more 
than  a  woman  in  polite  society,  to  be  strictly  truthful 
in  all  things. 

My  inspiration,  if  I  may  call  it  such,  and  I  will 
say  that  many  things  which  are  given  the  name  seem 
to  me  to  have  no  better  title  thereto, — my  inspira- 
tion, I  repeat,  proceeded,  as  far  as  I  am  able  to 
trace  it  up  toward  its  ultimate  sources,  from 
two    circumstances,    in    chief,    namely,    first,    the 


A  Lord  of  Lands.  291 

abundance  of  boneset  in  our  vicinity,  for  it  grew 
thickly  about  the  verge  of  every  swamp  and  swale, 
having,  with  all  its  virtue,  the  pertinacity  of  the 
veriest  weed,  and,  secondly,  its  having  been  a  valued 
remedy  in  the  very  early  times,  the  times  of  the 
Pilgrim  Fathers,  concerning  which  the  public  have 
conceived  the  notion,  whether  rightly  or  wrongly, 
that  no  such  thing  as  sickness  existed  then,  and 
nobody  ever  died  except  by  starvation,  or  by  the 
tomahawk  of  the  savage.  It  struck  me,  considering 
these  circumstances,  that  this  prejudice,  whereby 
the  manner  of  life  of  the  ancient  Puritan  was 
thought  to  have  been  most  salubrious,  might  be  made 
to  furnish  a  market  for  our  great  supply  of  boneset. 
Prejudices  were  what  people  consulted  with  and 
were  swayed  by  when  they  spent  their  money,  and 
why  was  not  this  particular  prejudice  as  respectable 
as  any  other,  that  commercial  enterprise  should  make 
no  use  of  it? 

Having  my  plan  matured  in  my  mind,  I  set  it 
on  foot  by  going  out  with  my  scythe  and  mowing 
a  great  quantity  of  the  boneset.  I  had  learned 
somewhere,  doubtless  from  some  one  of  our 
pamphlets,  that  if  green  plants  are  cured  in  the 
shade,  they  will  retain  their  color  even  when 
thoroughly  dry  and  with  this  in  view,  I  carried 
the  boneset  home  and  spread  it  in  an  unused 
loft,  where  it  had  free  contact  with  the  air  both 
above  and  below.  It  came  through  finely,  and 
was  all  you  could  ask  in  the  way  of  looks.  As 
often  as  I  had  a  spare  moment  I  would  run  up 
and  pick  over  a  bit  of  it,  removing  all  the   for- 


292  A   Lord  of  Lands. 

eign  weeds  and  grasses,  and  bind  it  up  in  neat 
and  convenient  bunches,  not  forgetting  to  trim  the 
butts  off  squarely  with  a  sharp  knife.  As  soon  as 
winter  was  well  under  way,  and,  as  I  surmised,  the 
people  of  the  city  were  about  having  their  first  crop 
of  colds,  I  took  a  few  of  the  bunches  along  with 
me  to  market,  and  exposed  them  for  sale,  at  ten 
cents  a  bunch.  In  order  to  arrest  attention,  I  had 
me  a  sign,  in  great  letters  boldly  written  with  a 
carpenter's  broad  pencil,  thus : 

BONESET. 

THE   PHYSIC   OF  OUR   FATHERS. 
BUY  A  BUNCH   AND  BE  AS   WELL  AS  THEY  WERE. 

Of  course  I  was  laughed  to  scorn  by  the  other 
gardeners,  who  found  endless  delight  in  hectoring 
me  and  calling  me  "  Doc "  and  all  that  sort  of 
foolishness,  the  more  as  I  had  all  my  boneset  to 
bring  back  the  first  time  or  two,  which  was  no 
hardship  beyond  the  humiliation,  inasmuch  as  the 
stuff  was  no  heavier  than  so  much  hay.  But  about 
the  third  time,  I  think,  a  woman  came  up  and  bought 
a  bunch.  She  had  read  about  boneset  in  a  story, 
and  w^ondered  what  it  might  be  like.  There  was 
a  person  in  the  story,  she  said,  who  was  forever 
drinking  boneset  tea,  and  it  sounded  pretty  good. 
Will  you  observe  how  little  a  thing  a  prejudice 
commercially  important  will  get  itself  built  on? 
This  woman  had  a  bad  cold,  and  if  she  took  the 
boneset,  which  I  told  her  how  to  prepare,  it  did  herj 
good,  and  very  likely  she  imparted  the  secret  to 


A   Lord  of  Lands.  293 

her  neighbors.  Anyway,  although  I  never  saw  her 
again,  to  my  knowledge,  the  demand  for  boneset 
picked  up  from  that  time  on,  until  I  had  no  trouble 
in  selling  as  many  bunches  as  I  could  conveniently 
bring,  sometimes  more  and  sometimes  less.  Some 
days  I  have  taken  in  as  much  as  a  dollar  for  boneset, 
which  was  a  dollar  for  clear  profit,  for  I  reckoned 
the  cost  nothing,  since  I  did  the  little  work  of  the 
business  in  time  which  I  could  make  no  other  use 
of.  I  had  me  a  form  of  w^ords,  carefully  forged  out 
with  a  view  to  its  sounding  scientific  enough  to 
be  convincing  and  yet  not  so  scientific  as  to  arouse 
a  suspicion  that  I  was  not  a  farmer  but  a  pro- 
fessional hawker.  If  anybody  doubted  the  identity 
of  the  plant,  as  somebody  was  always  doing,  for 
substitution,  if  not  the  fraud  of  the  age,  as  they 
say,  is  the  fraud  which  the  age  has  chosen  to  be 
especially  on  the  lookout  for,  I  would  call  their 
attention  to  the  peculiar  formation,  with  the  stalk 
running  up  through  the  middle  of  the  leaf,  and 
beg  them  to  refer  to  the  picture  of  boneset  or 
thoroughwort  which  they  would  find  in  their 
dictionary.  Of  course  not  one  in  a  thousand  of 
the  people  who  came  down  into  the  market  to  buy 
their  own  sprouts  had  a  dictionary,  but  the  imputa- 
tion flattered  them  all  the  more  for  that,  and  put 
them  in  a  pliant  mood.  I  was  reasonably  careful 
not  to  let  the  onrush  of  my  eloquence  carry  me 
beyond  the  limits  of  truth.  If  I  drew  it  rather 
strong  as  to  the  probable  effect  on  the  doctors  and 
druggists  of  a  universal  use  of  boneset,  I  meant  it 
to  stand  as  the  expression  of  an  opinion,  merely, 


294  ^  Lord  of  Lands. 

and  if  anyone  was  led  to  believe  otherwise,  I  am 
sorry.  Anyway,  my  intentions  were  good.  Tucker 
advised  me  to  take  up  clover  blossoms  in  a  like 
manner  of  exploitation,  but,  while  I  do  not  question 
their  merit  as  a  remedy  for  derangements  of  the 
eliminative  system  (I  believe  that  is  what  they 
are  accounted  good  for),  I  was  forced  to  let  the 
opportunity  pass  me,  on  mature  deliberation.  The 
long  and  short  of  it  was  that  there  was  no  such 
universal  prejudice  touching  clover  blossoms  as 
should  justify  me  in  taking  them  up.  Your  great 
concerns,  with  no  end  of  money  to  spend  in  advertis- 
ing, can  go  to  work  and  create  any  prejudice  they 
wish,  for  their  own  especial  behoof,  but  we  small 
operators  have  to  be  content  with  such  prejudices 
as  already  exist. 

Ludovika  had  her  poultry,  and  it  rendered  a 
good  account  of  itself.  In  the  earlier  management 
of  the  fowls  we  were  guided  mostly  by  our 
pamphlets,  and  we  got  on  fairly  well,  but  we  never 
really  learned  the  trade  until  we  learned  it  of 
experience.  Such  a  bewildering  multitude  of 
circumstances  affect  the  welfare  of  chickens, 
especially,  that  it  is  about  impossible  to  get  at  the 
true  method  until  all  the  false  ones  have  been  tried. 
Our  failures  cost  us  something,  but  never  more 
than  their  lesson  was  worth  to  us.  The  pamphlets 
were  strongly  for  blooded  fowls,  and  flouted  the 
mongrel  strains  with  such  a  disdain  that  we  were 
ashamed  when  our  flock,  in  spite  of  all  our  precau- 
tions, became  more  and  more  mixed,  but  we  felt 
somewhat  relieved  when  it  appeared  that  the  farther 


A   Lord  of  Lands, 


295 


our  hens  departed  from  their  pure  lineage,  the  better 
returns  they  gave  us  in  the  way  of  eggs,  and  we 
thought  of  the  divinity  that  doth  shape  our  ends 
in  spite  of  us,  and  having  the  pamphlets  about 
worn  out  with  much  handling  we  sent  for  no  more 
to  take  their  place.  We  were  in  a  quandary  as  to 
the  proper  sort  of  a  house  to  build  for  our  first 
poultry,  but  after  all  we  had  no  great  choice  in 
the  matter,  owing  to  the  poverty  of  material,  and 
of  the  wherewithal  to  buy  material.  The  best  we 
could  provide  was  the  merest  makeshift  of  a  hovel, 
and  we  had  a  sense  of  guilt  over  it,  and  could  not 
escape  the  uncomfortable  reflection  that  we  had 
no  moral  right  to  keep  stock  which  we  could  treat 
no  better.  But  the  biddies  took  to  the  old  hovel 
most  cheerfully,  and  laid  eggs  all  winter  long, 
and  as  early  as  the  end  of  February  began  to  be 
taken  with  the  fury  of  hatching,  so  that  we  had 
fine  broilers  to  sell  in  May.  My  own  belief  is  that 
hens  have  no  fancy  for  ceremony  and  formality  and 
the  appointments  of  luxury;  but  whether  or  no, 
whatever  their  likes  or  dislikes,  they  are  to  be 
humored.  Unless  a  hen  is  easy  in  her  mind  she 
will  not  do  business,  and  that  is  the  first  gospel. 
We  have  us  a  sightlier  house  in  the  stead  of  the 
old  hovel,  now,  but  this  we  built  rather  for  the 
delight  of  our  own  eyes  than  out  of  any  demand 
on  the  part  of  the  fowls.  They  were  ever  highly 
content  with  the  old  place,  because  of  its  very 
crudity,  I  suspect,  and  in  making  them  a  new  place, 
we  kept  the  hint  in  mind.  Too  many  people,  when 
they  start  out  to  make  their  poultry  comfortable, 


296  A  Lord  of  Lands. 

consult  their  own  feelings  us  to  what  constitutes 
comfort,  overlooking  the  fact  that  a  hen's  point  of 
view  is  not  a  man's.  In  our  new  house,  we  have 
neat  windows,  with  frames,  precisely  as  in  a  human 
dwelling,  but  every  other  window  is  filled  with 
cheese-cloth  in  place  of  glass,  to  let  in  plenty  of 
fresh  air,  and  let  out  the  vapors,  and,  last  but  not 
least,  to  temper  the  luxurious  warmth  which  dis- 
heartens any  creature  of  the  feathered  kind.  Tucker 
has  a  hen-house  of  which  he  boasts  that  water 
never  freezes  in  it,  day  or  night,  no  matter  how 
cold  the  weather,  but  he  gets  no  eggs  in  winter, 
and  when  his  hens  begin  laying  in  the  spring,  they 
eat  their  eggs.  Tucker  avers,  sardonically,  that 
they  keep  on  eating  all  they  lay  until  the  price  of 
eggs  falls  below  ten  cents  a  dozen,  after  which 
they  get  to  feel  above  the  diet,  and  cast  about  for 
something  more  expensive.  He  does  not  pretend 
to  explain  how  it  is  that  we  get  eggs  just  when 
eggs  are  fetching  most,  or  how  it  is  that  our  hens 
never  eat  their  eggs,  though  they  have  every  chance 
in  the  world,  but  do  you  imagine  Tucker  would  ever 
take  the  lesson  to  heart  and  come  over  to  our  way 
of  doing?     If  you  do,  you  don't  know  Tucker. 

I  think  I  can  put  you  the  case  in  a  nutshell.  The 
thing  is  to  keep  hens  dry.  They  are  well  provided 
by  nature  against  cold,  but  not  against  dampness. 
If  they  are  dry,  they  will  endure  almost  any  degree 
of  cold,  especially  if  they  are  permitted  to  work 
for  their  food,  as  easily  they  can  be  by  mingling 
their  corn  with  a  great  mass  of  litter. 

We  took  the  ginseng  fever,  in  a  mild  form,  or, 


A  Lord  of  Lands.  297 

rather,  Richy  and  I  took  it,  our  imaginations  being 
fired  by  stories  of  the  enormous  profits  to  be 
gathered.     But  Ludovika  was  not  to  be  won  over. 

"  What  is  the  stuff  used  for?  "  says  she. 

"  The  Chinese,"  says  I,  "  esteem  it  a  charm. 
They  think  if  they  carry  a  bit  of  the  root  with  them, 
it  will  ward  off  all  evil." 

"Stuff!"  says  she. 

"  Very  true,"  says  I,  "  but  what  do  we  care,  as 
long  as  they  pay  the  price  ? " 

"  It's  a  gross  and  wicked  superstition,"  says  she, 
"  and  we'd  best  have  nothing  to  do  with  it." 

I  am  not  quite  convinced,  however.  Just  where  do 
superstitions  cease  to  be  innocent,  and  begin  to  be 
gross  and  wicked? 


CHAPTER  XIII. 

I  CANNOT  shake  off  the  feeling  that  in  order  to 
round  out  my  narrative,  I  should  have  just  one 
more  chapter  of  moonshine.  For  it  seems  to  me 
certain  that  you  will  have  been  asking,  with  rising 
curiosity,  how  I,  an  unlettered  laboring  man  to  start 
with,  ever  acquired  sufficient  learning  and  polish 
to  write  a  book. 

The  account  of  how  I  took  on  a  new  growth  of 
mind,  though  long  past  the  growing  age,  has,  more- 
over, I  persuade  myself,  a  general  significance, 
inasmuch  as  it  is  the  experience  of  no  more  than 
an  average  man,  upon  being  translated  out  of  a 
cramped  and  artificial  environment  into  a  freer  air; 
and  this  circumstance  alone,  I  should  suppose,  will 
justify  me  in  what  is  strictly  a  digression. 

Anyway,  I  am  burning  to  tell  it,  and  will  have 
done  with  apologies. 

To  begin  at  the  beginning,  then,  there  were  always 
politicians  coming  to  see  us.  Sixteen  votes,  in 
a  sparsely  settled  country,  were  not  to  be  despised. 
After  awhile  a  law  was  made  which  gave  women- 
kmd  the  right  to  vote  in  school  affairs,  and  with 
that  we  were  more  sought  after  than  ever.  There 
were  times,  indeed,  when  nothing  was  too  good 
for  us.     Our  democratical  form  of  government  is 


A  Lord  of  Lands.  299 

to  the  advantage  of  the  plain  people  in  one  respect, 
if  no  more;  for  it  affords  them,  periodically,  and 
not  seldomer  than  every  two  years,  the  occasion  of 
their  having  cigars  to  smoke  without  cost  to  them- 
selves, unless  it  should  be  a  slight  matter  of  self- 
respect,  and  of  wearing  the  air  of  weight  and 
consequence,  which  is  truly  a  gratification  for  such 
of  us  as  are  not  philosophers.  These  politicians 
sang  always  the  same  siren  song,  varied  only  to 
suit  the  exigencies  of  the  hour.  They  promised 
that  our  taxes  should  be  less,  the  only  condition 
being  that  we  on  our  part  should  vote  as  they  bade 
us,  but  although  we  fulfilled  the  condition  always, 
since  we  always  voted  for  one  or  another  of  them, 
and  they  all  held  out  the  same  promise,  I  have  it 
to  say,  after  many  years  of  waiting,  that  the  taxes 
have  steadily  gone  up,  and  not  always  slowly,  never 
once  down,  until  now  the  man  who  will  not  lie  to 
the  assessor  has  to  yield  up  one  dollar  out  of  every 
twenty-five  he  has,  each  year,  to  pay  for  the  inestim- 
able privilege  of  being  governed  in  a  free  and 
enlightened  manner.  Some  Frenchman,  whose 
name  escapes  me,  as  about  all  foreign  names  do,  says 
that  the  freer  a  people  are,  the  bigger  their  taxes, 
from  which  I  draw  the  comforting  inference  that 
we  in  our  day  are  most  prodigiously  free. 

But  I  am  not  the  man  to  fret  over  what  I  can't 
help,  unless  it  is  the  weather,  or  to  let  discontent 
sour  me,  happen  what  will,  and  especially  after 
all  the  reason  I  have  for  being  grateful,  I  will  not 
complain  of  a  few  dollars  more  or  less,  for  taxes, 
even  though  I  seem  to  get  little  or  nothing  in  return. 


300  A   Lord  of  Lands. 

What  I  am  coming  at  is  the  politicians,  and  of  all 
politicians  Neighbor  Tucker  especially.  Politics 
was  Tucker's  passion. 

Every  man  has  his  passion.  Elizabeth  suggests 
that  I  mean  to  say  obsession,  which  may  be, 
although,  after  looking  the  term  up,  I  incline  to 
the  belief  that  it  carries  with  it  rather  more  of  the 
idea  of  unsoundness  of  mind  than  I  wish  to  imply. 
But  be  that  as  it  may,  every  man  has  his  own 
peculiar  source  of  fun,  his  one  particular  thing 
which  he  can  go  in  for  with  pleasure,  and  this  is 
what  I  mean  by  his  passion.  With  some  the  getting 
of  money  is  their  passion.  Some,  again,  have 
sport  for  their  passion,  and  will  sit  like  statues  for 
hours,  waiting  for  a  fish  to  bite,  or  crawl  on  their 
bellies  through  the  mire  for  half  a  mile  to  get  shot 
at  a  wild  duck.  There  are  men  whose  passion  is 
books,  and  men  whose  passion  is  religion,  who  find 
fun,  though  it  be  of  solemn  sort,  in  worship  and 
prayer.  But  Tucker's  passion,  in  those  days,  was, 
as  I  say,  politics.  He  is  a  different  man,  now,  for 
the  passions  of  eighty,  if  any  survive  so  long,  are 
not  the  passions  of  fifty,  and  Tucker  will  be  eighty 
if  he  lives  till  October,  and  the  intention  is  to  have 
a  celebration  of  the  event,  though  this  is  for  the 
present  a  secret. 

Baldwin  was  a  horse  of  another  color.  His  pas- 
sion, as  nearly  as  I  could  make  it  out,  was  to  beat 
Tucker.  He  went  in  for  politics,  ardently,  but 
apparently  with  no  other  interest  than  that.  Tucker, 
in  the  pursuit  of  his  passion,  aspired  to  be  boss  in 
the  school  district,  in  the  township,   and  even  in 


A   Lord  of  Lands.  301 

the  county,  while  Baldwin,  in  the  pursuit  of  his, 
got  in  Tucker's  way  at  every  turn  of  the  road. 
They  were  complete  enemies.  Tucker  always  took 
himself  too  seriously,  and  would  never  speak  to 
Baldwin  unless  he  must.  Baldwin  had  more  of 
the  sense  of  humor  and  always  treated  Tucker  with 
studied  courtesy. 

Their  interest  in  us,  whereby  they  had  hastened 
to  help  us  when  we  needed  help,  fed  us  when  we 
were  hungry,  clothed  us  when  we  were  naked,  and 
w^hen  we  were  strangers  took  us  in,  in  more  senses 
than  one,  possibly,  was  their  interest  in  our  sixteen 
votes,  and  very  little  else.  There  was  an  election 
coming  on,  which  should  decide  the  control  of  the 
school  district  for  another  two  years,  and  sixteen 
votes,  provided  they  held  together,  would  turn  the 
scale  either  way.  Although  the  contest  could  not 
come  to  an  issue  until  fall,  and  it  was  now  early 
spring,  Tucker  and  Baldwin  had  already  locked 
horns,  and  neither  of  them  was  likely  to  leave  a 
stone  unturned. 

The  situation  was  not  to  our  liking,  for  all  that 
it  inured  to  our  benefit.  It  was  only  too  clear  that 
the  favors  which  these  two  men  were  showering 
upon  us  were  loading  us  with  a  debt  of  obligation 
which  we  could  never  repay,  any  more  than  one 
person  could  ride  two  horses,  for  if  we  returned  the 
favor  of  either  we  should  be  ungrateful  to  the 
other.  Our  first  thought  was  to  decline  utterly  to 
have  anything  to  do  with  the  quarrel,  for  certainly 
it  was  a  good  mess  to  keep  out  of.  We  imagined 
we  had  a  sufficient  excuse  in  our  ignorance  of  local 


302  A  Lord  of  Lands. 

affairs,  but  it  did  not  prove  so.  Indeed,  no  excuse 
would  dispense  us.  About  the  worst  thing  we  could 
do  was  to  hold  aloof,  since  by  that  course  we  should 
displease  pretty  much  everybody,  whereas,  by 
participating,  we  should  displease  only  a  faction. 
To  stay  away  from  the  school  meeting,  as  if  we 
did  not  care,  would  be  to  give  ourselves  the  character 
of  aliens,  and  this  we  should  avoid  at  any  cost. 
Moreover,  we  did  care.  With  all  our  young 
children  to  be  considered,  the  school  was  a  matter 
of  the  first  concern  with  us. 

We  hatched  up  schemes  and  schemes  for  wrig- 
gling out  of  the  dilemma.  One  of  these,  rather 
seriously  entertained,  proposed  that  we  divide  our 
strength,  half  voting  for  Tucker  and  half  for 
Baldwin,  but  the  more  we  looked  at  it,  the  less  we 
were  able  to  persuade  ourselves  that  it  would  avail, 
unless  we  could  make  our  friends  believe  we  split 
up  thus  on  sincere  conviction,  and  not  simply  to 
dodge  the  responsibility,  and  at  last  we  gave  it 
up  as  impracticable,  in  wholesome  fear  of  the 
tangled  web  which,  according  to  the  poet,  we  weave 
when  first  we  practice  to  deceive.  We  were  not 
altogether  incapable  of  deception,  as  you  will  see 
presently,  but  it  was  the  part  of  wisdom  to  have 
recourse  to  guile  of  a  less  complicated  nature.  After 
a  great  deal  of  ineffectual  planning,  the  suggestion 
got  itself  made  by  some  bold  spirit  that  inasmuch 
as  we  held  the  balance  of  power,  we  should  take 
the  matter  into  our  own  hands  and  decide  it  all 
our  own  way,  regardless  of  Tucker  and  Baldwin 
and  their  factions.     It  was  an  impudent  thing  to 


A  Lord  of  Lands, 


303 


do,  and  moreover  none  too  consistent,  after  what 
we  had  pleaded  of  our  ignorance  of  local  affairs; 
but  consistency  is  only  a  jewel,  after  all,  and  jewels 
can  be  spared;  and  as  for  the  impudence  of  it, 
nobody  would  throw  that  up  at  us,  provided  only  we 
succeeded.  Often  the  boldest  course  is  by  that 
very  token  the  safest.     And  so  it  happened  now. 

During  all  the  months  which  elapsed  before  the 
election,  we  listened  respectfully  to  Tucker  and  to 
Baldwin,  as  if  we  were  touched  by  their  eloquence, 
but  we  made  them  no  promises.  We  answered  them 
that  we  took  their  valuable  advice  to  heart,  but 
would  they  consider  that  we  were  new  to  the  busi- 
ness, and  allow  us  time  to  make  up  our  minds?  In 
order  that  we  might  not  appear  too  clannish  and 
exclusive  in  what  we  were  about  to  do,  and, 
furthermore,  in  order  that  we  might  not  fail  of 
a  good  working  majority  by  any  mischance,  when 
the  pinch  came,  we  took  some  few  of  the  neighbors 
into  our  confidence,  picking  out  such  as  appeared 
least  committed  to  the  feud.  We  found  them  very 
willing.  They  were  heartily  tired  of  the  everlast- 
ing wrangle  which  should  never  be  ended  no  matter 
who  won,  and  they  were  disgusted  with  the 
awkwardness  of  it  for  them,  by  which  they  could 
not  choose  to  do  nothing,  lest  they  give  offense,  nor 
yet  choose  between  the  only  two  things  there  were 
to  do,  lest  they  give  offense  likewise.  They  were 
glad  and  thankful  when  we  opened  a  third  course 
to  them. 

The  election,  which  was  to  elect  the  three  trustees 
of  the  district,  was  held  in  September,  on  the  even- 


3^4 


A   Lord  of  Lands. 


ing  of  the  third  Tuesday,  if  I  rightly  recall  the 
language  of  the  law  which  then  governed.  It  is 
pretty  dark,  at  half  after  7,  in  late  September,  even 
when  the  weather  is  clear,  which  it  was  far  enough 
from  being,  that  night,  for  there  was  a  thick  pall 
of  mist,  lying  motionless  like  a  blanket  cast  over 
the  earth,  making  it  not  only  very  black,  but  very 
hot  and  close.  We  crowded  into  the  rude  little  old 
schoolhouse  where  the  carved  and  battered  forms 
afforded  seats  for  no  more  than  half  of  us,  and  were 
not  much  used,  anyway,  the  excitement  having  the 
effect  of  keeping  everybody  not  only  on  his  feet, 
but  on  his  very  tiptoes.  Only  such  of  the  crowd  as 
were  in  our  secret  were  sustained  by  any  sort  of 
assurance  as  to  the  outcome,  and  even  for  them 
there  was  uncertainty,  since  no  battle  is  won,  in 
politics,  where  treachery  is  constantly  lurking  about 
to  blast  the  counsels  of  the  brave  in  the  hour  of 
their  might,  until  the  last  gun  has  been  fired.  As 
for  the  others,  who  knew  of  no  possible  issue  except 
the  election  either  of  Tucker  or  of  Baldwin,  they 
w^ere  in  a  ferment  of  suspense.  They  fairly  trem- 
bled, they  were  that  wound  up,  for  although  the 
matter  was  not  momentous,  judged  coolly,  by  the 
standards  of  common  sense,  these  men's  sympathies 
had  been  worked  on,  and  their  pride  of  opinion  ap- 
pealed to,  and  many  another  foolish  prejudice 
brought  into  action,  until  they  were  convinced  that 
great  things  hung  on  the  event.  Even  in  that  sim- 
ple, almost  primitive  assemblage,  there  was  an 
intricacy  of  subtle  relations,  each  giving  rise  to  its 
shade  of  sentiment,  to  affect,  more  or  less,  the  mood 


A   Lord  of  Lands.  305 

of  the  moment,  and  to  make  the  occasion  important 
in  the  general  estimation.  A  curious  incident,  or 
accident,  will  serve  to  illustrate  the  frame  of  mind 
we  found  ourselves  in,  if  I  can  tell  it  rightly. 

We  had  no  light  except  a  lantern  which  Tucker 
fetched.  Tucker  was  clerk  of  the  old  board  of 
trustees,  and,  in  virtue  of  his  office,  moderator  of 
the  present  meeting,  and  it  lay  upon  him  to  attend 
to  whatever  arrangements  had  to  be  made.  The 
necessity  for  artificial  light  of  some  kind  he  met 
by  bringing  along  his  barn  lantern.  Tucker's 
lantern  was  famous  far  and  wide,  and  deserved  its 
fame  by  its  singularity.  The  Tuckers  had  a  great 
fear  of  kerosene,  having  known  in  the  intimate 
way  of  a  frightful  explosion  of  the  stuff  in  the 
early  days  of  its  use,  before  the  processes  of 
refinement  were  well  understood ;  and  such  was  their 
feeling  against  it  that  they  would  not  use  it,  and 
relied  upon  tallow  dips  for  their  light.  Tucker's 
lantern  was  a  tin  box  with  glass  sides,  and  a  dim 
candle  set  up  within,  and  it  achieved  hardly  more, 
to-night,  than  to  indicate  the  location  of  the  chair, 
for  the  guidance  of  those  who  should  make  remarks. 

Some  half-grown  boys,  whose  identity  was  never 
fully  disclosed,  having  no  doubt  scented  the  chance 
of  disorder,  had  come  and  pushed  themselves  in, 
along  with  the  men,  nobody  paying  much  attention 
to  them,  at  first.  Of  course  they  had  no  appreciation 
of  the  merits,  or  any  wish  to  uphold  them,  and 
very  presently  they  fell  into  a  most  outrageous 
conduct,  by  preconcerted  plan,  I  daresay.  They 
began,  rather  cautiously,  with  coughing  and  groan- 
20 


306  A  Lord  of  Lands. 

ing,  but  finding  themselves  pretty  much  masters 
of  the  situation,  with  nothing  to  fear,  under  cover 
of  the  night,  they  took  to  making  audible  comments 
and  otherwise  interrupting  the  gravity  of  the 
proceedings,  and  at  length,  emboldened  by  impunity, 
they  threw  things,  and  things  not  the  most  incon- 
siderable, either.  I  myself  was  struck  with  some 
hurtling  object,  the  exact  nature  of  which  I  did  not 
make  out,  but  which  I  surmised,  from  the  manner  of 
its  bursting  against  my  head,  to  be  a  tomato,  which 
it  probably  was,  for  the  vines  were  hanging  full  of 
tomatoes  at  the  time.  But  I  had  no  time  to  consider 
my  own  case,  for  almost  at  the  same  instant  some- 
thing hit  the  lantern  and  sent  it  to  the  floor  with 
a  loud  crash  of  glass,  and  we  were  in  complete 
darkness,  and  such  darkness,  too,  that  it  seemed  to 
have  a  substantiality, .  much  as  if  we  had  been 
suddenly  buried  under  a  rush  of  black  earth. 

Now,  as  I  look  at  it,  that  little  shred  of  light, 
though  it  scarcely  rived  the  darkness,  gave  us  our 
sense  of  locality,  and  the  instant  it  went  out,  we 
were  wholly  lost.  The  excitement  long  gathering, 
the  irritation  caused  by  the  conduct  of  the  boys,  the 
sweltering  heat,  all  these  and  perhaps  more,  had 
combined  to  put  us  in  a  very  ticklish  mood,  and  in  a 
way  to  fall  under  the  grotesque  and  absurd  fear 
which  at  once  laid  hold  of  us.  Instantly  there  was 
the  wildest  confusion.  We  shouted  and  cursed 
and  fought  and  struggled,  as  if  we  were  under  a 
fatal  danger,  not  to  be  escaped  unless  we  got  out 
of  the  schoolhouse  forthwith.  Even  the  boys,  with 
all  their  levity,  were  scared  by  the  unexpected  turn 


A  Lord  of  Lands.  307 

of  affairs,  and  their  shrill  voices  were  to  be  heard 
above  the  uproar,  clamoring  for  mercy.  What  any 
man  in  his  sober  senses  chancing  by,  should  have 
thought  of  us,  I  cannot  imagine.  We  were  like  a 
swarm  of  enraged  bees  boiling  and  seething  out  of 
the  narrow  door  of  their  hive,  only  that  we  neglected 
the  door,  for  the  most  part.  It  seemed  to  me,  at 
least,  that  I  knew  not  where  the  door  was;  and 
along  with  a  good  many  others,  I  got  out  through  a 
window.  Could  anything  be  more  ridiculous? 
Once  out  in  the  open  air,  our  panic  evaporated  as 
speedily  as  it  had  come  upon  us,  leaving  us  to  feel 
pretty  foolish.  The  boys  scampered  off  into  the 
bosom  of  the  night,  thoroughly  satiated  with 
mischief  for  once,  and  that  was  sufficiently  ludicrous, 
and  helped  to  break  the  spell.  There  was  somebody, 
as  there  always  is,  providentially,  in  every  crowd, 
to  crack  a  joke  at  the  psychological  moment,  and 
set  us  all  laughing,  and  then  several  who  were  best 
acquainted  with  the  premises  went  back  in  and 
fumbled  about  till  they  found  the  lantern,  which 
they  quickly  set  to  rights  and  lighted,  and  after 
that  we  all  went  in,  and  got  down  to  business  and 
carried  it  through  without  further  hindrance. 

Excepting  us  of  the  conspiracy,  none  had  a 
thought  of  there  being  more  than  the  two  tickets  in 
the  field,  one  carrying  the  names  of  Tucker  and  two 
of  his  henchmen,  and  the  other  carrying  the  names 
of  Baldwin  and  two  of  his  henchmen.  We  had  our 
ballots  all  written  out  in  advance,  and  there  was  no 
delay  in  voting.  Tucker,  in  obedience  to  the  law 
of  custom,  called  Baldwin  up  to  act  with  himself 


308  A   Lord  of  Lands. 

as  tellers,  and  they  two  counted,  while  the  rest  of 
us  stood  about  and  looked  on,  breathlessly.  They 
had  to  draw  up  close  under  the  dim  light  of  the 
lantern,  and  as  they  worked  we  could  see  with 
tolerable  distinctness  their  strong,  weather-beaten 
faces.  It  was  soon  evident  that  they  had  come 
upon  something  which  surprised  them,  for  they 
dropped  their  distant  manner  toward  each  other, 
and  whispered  together  in  an  agitated  way.  Three 
times  they  counted  the  ballots  over,  while  the  sweat 
rolled  down  from  their  brows,  for  the  night  was 
warm,  as  I  say,  and  no  doubt  there  was  inward  heat 
developing  all  the  time.  Finally  they  gave  over, 
and  then  Tucker  stood  up,  mopping  his  face  with  a 
great  red  handkerchief,  and  proclaimed  the  result. 

"  Gentlemen,"  he  said,  w4th  a  quaver  in  his  voice, 
which  touched  me  some,  for  I  could  understand  how 
it  hurt  him  to  be  beaten,  ''  it  appears  from  a  count  of 
the  ballots  that  a  majority  have  voted  for  Matthew 
Fitzgerald,  Adoniram  Baldwin  and  Israel  Tucker, 
and  if  there  is  no  objection,  these  will  be  declared 
and  are  hereby  declared  trustees  of  the  district  for 
the  ensuing  year." 

There  was  a  gasping  for  breath  all  round  the 
room,  and  then  a  tittering,  and  then  somebody,  in 
a  far  corner,  guffawed,  with  a  loud  guffaw,  and 
that  seemed  to  settle  it.  There  was  laughter  on 
every  hand,  and  clapping,  and  cheers.  In  the  midst 
of  the  applause,  the  moderator  put  the  motion  to 
adjourn,  which  nobody  had  thought  to  offer,  and 
it  was  carried  with  a  great  whoop,  and  then  we 
went  home,  and  there  was  a  better  feeling,  through- 


A  Lord   of  Lands.  309 

out  all  the  district,  than  there  had  been  before  for 
many  a  long  day.  In  so  far  as  it  concerned  public 
affairs,  the  feud  of  Tucker  and  Baldwin  was  quite 
extinguished.  They  could  never  get  anybody 
interested  in  their  quarrel,  after  that,  and  at  length, 
I  am  glad  to  relate,  they  had  the  good  sense  to 
give  up  having  one  at  all,  and  became  tolerable 
friends. 

So  it  happened  that  I,  though  I  have  no  passion 
for  politics,  or  even  a  fair  liking,  found  myself  in 
office,  little  dreaming  at  the  time  what  it  should 
mean  to  me,  to  what  a  degree  I  was  to  be  enlarged 
by  it.  I  have  been  a  trustee  of  the  district  from 
that  day  to  this,  and  it  has  been  for  me  one  long, 
delightful  schooling.  Whatever  of  education  I 
have,  be  it  much  or  little,  and  by  education  I  mean 
not  the  mere  matter  of  knowledge,  which  is 
incidental,  but  rather  the  capacity  to  think,  freely 
and  validly  to  use  what  power  of  mind  God  has 
given  me,  to  some  purpose,  this  I  have  acquired  in 
these  years.  All  the  while  I  have  been  going  to 
school,  in  our  httle  schoolhouse  beyond  the  hill 
there,  not  to  sit  in  the  benches,  to  be  sure,  or  to 
be  enrolled  as  a  scholar,  but  none  the  less  to  learn 
the  good  lessons,  to  read  the  good  books,  and  to 
hear  the  teacher's  good  advice.  I  have  seen  my 
mind  widening  and  widening,  the  thinking  soul 
rising  grandly  up  and  throwing  off  its  fetters;  and 
this,  I  think,  is  an  experience  not  vouchsafed  to 
many.  Whereas  the  minds  of  most  men  are  opened 
for  them  in  their  youth  (or  not  at  all)  and  they 
come  into  the  use  of  their  powers  before  they  are 


3IO  A  Lord  of  Lands. 

rightly  aware  of  the  way  of  it,  this  thing  was  done 
for  me  after  I  became  a  man,  and  more  than  a  young 
man,  and  so  I  saw  how  it  came  about.  And  that 
is  my  excuse,  if  I  seem  to  speak  more  confidently  of 
education  and  its  processes  than  befits  a  person  not 
a  doctor  of  laws. 

It  is  by  contact  that  we  are  educated.  A  child  is 
to  be  treated  much  after  the  manner  of  a  puppy, 
although  the  purpose  is  as  different  as  reason 
is  different  from  instinct.  You  take  your  puppy  in- 
to the  field  and  work  him  along  with  the  old  dog, 
and  pretty  soon  he  knows  his  trade,  what  to  do  and 
what  not  to  do,  whether  his  trade  be  hunting  or 
herding.  With  the  child,  as  I  say,  the  thing  to 
be  taught  is  the  free  and  efficient  use  of  the  think- 
ing soul,  and  the  trick  of  education  is  nothing  more 
or  less  than  to  bring  him,  as  his  mind  is  ready  for 
it,  in  contact  with  men  who  know  how  to  think, 
that  is,  in  contact  with  efficient  minds  in  the  act  of 
thinking.  And  here  is  where  books  come  in.  A 
favored  few  may  come  directly  in  contact  with 
strong  thinking  men,  and  know  them  personally, 
and  derive  thus  the  best  education  possible.  But 
for  the  most  of  us,  the  only  way  to  reach  such  men 
and  come  in  contact  with  them,  is  through  their 
books.  A  good  book,  a  book  worthy  of  the  name, 
exhibits  always  some  able  mind  in  the  act  of  think- 
ing, and  so  it  becomes  an  implement  of  common  or 
popular  education.  The  part  of  the  teacher  is 
simply  the  part  of  the  trainer  with  his  puppy,  to  see 
that  the  contact  is  what  it  should  be,  to  help  it,  if 
necessary,    with   judicious   words   of    appreciation. 


A   Lord  of  Lands.  311 

Of  course  a  good  teacher  does  not  grow  on  every 
bush.  We  have  been  vexed  and  vexed  with  the 
teachers  who  come  out  to  us,  flourishing  their 
certificates  of  competency  under  our  noses  with 
the  air  of  deeming  us  poor  rustic  clods  who  should 
at  once  cringe  down  at  their  feet,  and  turning  out 
upon  trial  to  be  scarcely  more  than  a  mixture  of 
ignorance  and  vanity.  I  have  always  in  mind  those 
words  of  President  Garfield,  who  said  his  notion 
of  getting  a  liberal  education  was  sitting  on  one 
end  of  a  log  out  in  the  wild  woods,  with  Mark 
Hopkins  at  the  other  end.  Nothing  mattered  much, 
in  his  estimation,  you  see,  but  the  man  at  the  other 
end.  We  do  not  expect  to  get  a  luminous  intellect 
like  Mark  Hopkins,  for  $40  a  month,  but  we  fail  to 
see  why  a  reasonable  humility  should  be  beyond 
our  means. 

Especially  is  a  discriminating  teacher  needed  in 
order  to  guard  against  the  great  danger  which 
lurks  in  the  cheapness  of  reading  matter,  the  con- 
stant temptation  to  read  too  much.  Unless  we  are 
guided  into  the  better  habit,  we  are  apt  to  fall  under 
the  sway  of  an  insatiable  curiosity,  which  impels  us 
to  explore  all  literature,  until,  even  though  we  take 
up  only  the  most  meritorious  books,  we  are  worn 
out  by  the  effort.  When  the  young  mind  has  been 
once  awakened  and  set  to  work,  by  the  stimulating 
contact  with  other  minds,  when  it  has  been  given 
to  know  something  of  its  powers  and  to  take  delight 
in  using  them,  what  it  then  needs  most  is  plenty  of 
chance  to  think.  To  press  more  reading  upon  it, 
after  that,  is  like  forcing  more  food  upon  a  stomach 


312  A  Lord  of  Lands. 

already  replete.  Reading  for  pastime  is  about  as 
foolish  as  eating  for  pastime,  though  both  are  com- 
mon practices.  Too  much  reading,  I  suspect,  is 
what  has  induced  the  mental  daintiness,  call  it 
almost  nausea,  which  we  see  all  about  us,  whereby 
people  loathe  the  reading  that  puts  some  mental 
effort  upon  them,  and  will  have  only  the  spiced 
gruel  which  tickles  the  taste,  and  fills,  perhaps,  but 
does  not  nourish. 

Sure  it  has  been  great  fun  for  me.  I  don't 
wonder,  any  more,  at  those  who  take  study  for 
their  passion.  If  I  could  not  be  a  farmer,  which 
is  the  best  business  a  man  can  be  at,  I  should  wish 
to  be  a  scholar,  and  do  nothing  but  study,  and 
think. 


CHAPTER  XIV. 

And  now,  what  more  have  I  to  tell? 

We  are  not  rich,  but  we  esteem  ourselves  well 
off.  We  are  not  pattern  farmers,  but  we  get  a 
great  deal  of  joy  out  of  living,  and  no  man  is  the 
sadder  for  our  joy.  We  have  our  ups  and  our 
downs,  but  if  we  had  nothing  but  ups,  we  should 
soon  lose  the  sense  of  them,  and  then  they  would 
be  no  comfort  to  us.  God  pity  the  man  who  is 
never  disappointed.  Disappointment  is  a  bitter 
thing  to  take,  and  how  bitter  no  man  knows  better 
than  I,  but  like  my  boneset,  which  is  bitter,  too, 
it  is  a  wholesome  regulative.  And  so  I  have  this 
much  more  to  say  to  you,  my  friend,  that  the 
country  is  the  place  for  a  poor  man.  Old  earth  is 
the  mother  of  us  all,  and  we  cannot  do  better,  when 
we  are  hard  beset,  than  fly  to  her  sympathetic  bosom. 

We  were  nine  years  paying  off  our  debt,  for  we 
took  the  matter  coolly,  and  built  up  the  property 
the  while.  When  I  paid  over  the  last  dollar  to 
Beverly,  the  old  fellow  shook  my  hand  cordially, 
and  said  some  very  pleasant  things  which  I  need 
not  repeat,  and  expressed  the  hope,  in  all  sincerity, 
I  am  sure,  that  I  might  still  find  it  in  my  way  to 
drop  in  and  see  him  now  and  then.  His  compli- 
ments, and  the  relief  of  being  rid  of  the  burden 


314  A  Lord  of  Lands. 

(for  debt,  in  spite  of  the  economic  advantages  which 
circumstances  sometimes  give  it,  is  after  all  a  bur- 
den) lifted  me  up  for  -the  moment,  and  put  me  in 
high  spirits.  But  as  we  jogged  along  home,  Viola 
and  I,  there  stole  over  me  a  feeling  of  depression. 
Was  it  a  sort  of  loneliness,  a  sense  of  having  noth- 
ing left  to  work  for,  now  that  the  debt  was  no 
more?  You  hear  of  men  seeming  to  themselves 
lost,  upon  the  completion  of  a  long  and  arduous 
labor,  and  something  of  that  there  may  have  been 
with  me,  but  it  was  not  all. 

When  I  was  come  home,  our  own  home,  now  at 
last,  and  the  chores  were  done,  and  supper  eaten, 
and  the  children  out  about  their  various  concerns, 
all  but  the  baby  in  Ludovika's  lap,  for  we  were  not 
yet  beyond  having  a  baby  in  the  house  all  the  time» 
I  spoke  of  the  great  business  of  the  day,  and  re- 
peated what  Beverly  had  said,  with  every  smallest 
detail,  knowing  a  woman's  fondness  for  particulars. 
And  Ludovika  sighed. 

"  Are  you  not  glad  the  debt  is  paid?  "  said  I. 

"  I  was  not  thinking  of  the  debt,"  said  she. 

I  knew  only  too  well  what  she  was  thinking  of. 
It  was  what  I  had  been  thinking  of,  all  the  way 
home,  and  growing  sadder  and  sadder,  in  the  face 
of  our  good  fortune.  I  had  not  the  heart  to  utter  a 
word. 

**  In  a  week  from  to-day,"  said  Ludovika,  after 
a  little,  and  her  voice  was  laden  with  woe,  ''  our  son 
will  be  twenty-one." 

"  Yes,"  said  I,  trying  hard  to  be  simply  proud 
over  it.     "  Richy  is  a  fine  man,  now." 


A   Lord  of  Lands.  3 1  5 

"  He  will  go  away  from  us,"  said  she. 

"  He  should  be  making  a  place  for  himself,"  said 
I.  *'  Richy  is  too  good  a  man  to  play  second  fiddle, 
even  to  his  father,  and  I  am  not  old  enough  to  be 
laid  on  the  shelf." 

It  was  getting  dark,  and  I  could  not  see  her  face, 
even  though  she  were  not  bending  low  over  the 
child.     But  I  knew  she  was  crying. 

"What  is  the  use  of  it  all!"  she  faltered  out, 
brokenly.  "  Why  should  we  trouble  to  pay  the  debt, 
if  our  children  are  to  go  away  and  leave  us  bare  in 
our  old  age?  After  all  the  pain  and  trouble  of 
bringing  children  into  the  world,  that  the  end  of  it 
should  be  our  desolation!  " 

You  know  how  unreasonable  a  mother  is  about 
her  son.  If  she  can  have  her  way,  she  will  never  let 
him  leave  her  side.  Forgetful  alike  of  human 
nature,  and  Scripture,  and  reason,  she  dreams  of  his 
cleaving  forever  unto  her  and  will  have  nothing  less. 
I  felt  called  upon  to  preach  Ludovika  a  sermon  of 
resignation,  essaying  to  look  down  at  her  from  a 
philosophical  eminence.  I  asked  her  to  consider  the 
blue-jay,  and  its  admirable  manner  of  dealing  with 
its  young,  how  that  its  seeming  severity  was  the 
very  means  of  making  fine  sturdy  birds  of  the 
fledgelings.  If  the  young  were  kept  forever  under 
the  parent  wing,  what  should  they  amount  to?  I 
was  about  to  say  that  it  was  likewise  with  human 
beings,  but  just  here  my  sermon  seemed  to  break 
down.  I  perceived  that  I  was  not  convincing  Ludo- 
vika, and  when  I  came  to  think  of  it,  I  was  not  con- 
vincing myself.     I  cast  about  for  some  new  line  of 


31 6  A  Lord  of  Lands. 

argument,  but  found  none  at  hand,  and  gave  over 
at  last,  with  a  huskiness  in  my  throat. 

When  Ludovika,  on  her  part,  spoke  again,  her 
voice  was  rather  steadier  than  before,  but  still 
marked  by  the  note  of  sorrow. 

"  My  children  are  not  blue- jays,  I  hope,"  she 
said,  and  her  words  went  to  my  heart.  There  is  no 
making  head  against  a  woman's  feelings,  when  once 
they  have  the  mastery  of  her,  and  especially  it  is 
true  that  when  a  woman  is  swayed  by  her  feelings, 
she  will  look  upon  her  husband  much  in  the  light  of 
an  inferior  species,  and  be  deaf  to  his  advice,  how- 
ever wholesome. 

But  the  Lord  had  not  forgotten  us,  as  we  found 
out,  all  in  good  time. 


CHAPTER  XV. 

Death  shunned  our  colony  long,  perhaps  because 
there  were  among  us  but  few  if  any  of  the  shining 
marks  whom  the  dark  angel  is  said  especially  to 
love;  but  more  likely,  I  imagine,  because  we  were 
middling  young  and  rugged  to  begin  with,  and 
lived,  not  so  much  by  any  virtue  of  ours,  as  out  of 
the  necessity  laid  upon  us  by  the  blessed  moderate- 
ness of  our  means,  a  simple  and  a  healthful  life. 
And  when  at  last  death  came,  it  was  through  an  acci- 
dent, if  there  be  such  a  thing  as  an  accident  in  God's 
providence. 

William  Wightman,  our  best  carpenter,  a  most 
efficient  artisan,  with  a  native  taste  for  the  effects 
of  architecture,  as  every  house  in  the  settlement 
testifies,  for  they  all  show  his  handiwork,  and  a 
most  worthy  man  in  all  his  relations,  whether  as 
husband,  father  or  neighbor,  while  working  at  his 
bench  one  winter  day  met  with  some  slight  mishap 
which  left  on  the  finger  of  his  hand  one  of  those 
bruises  which  common  people  call  blood-blisters. 
He  took  no  serious  thought  of  it,  but  seeing  it  stand 
out  in  a  swollen  manner,  he  thought  to  release  the 
effete  blood  which  might  otherwise  fester,  and 
straightway  opened  the  skin,  by  means  of  his  awl, 
which  lay  conveniently  by  him.     He  had  no  sus- 


31 8  A  Lord  of  Lands. 

picion  of  danger,  having  done  the  same  thing  many 
times  before,  but  it  chanced  that  the  tool  was  full  of 
frost,  and  his  own  blood  at  the  moment,  for  what 
reason  I  know  not,  since  he  was  a  very  sound  per- 
son, in  a  condition  to  receive  infection  readily,  and 
betwixt  them  there  set  in  an  inflammation  which 
developed  into  malignant  gangrene.  To  make  the 
case  worse,  Wightman  was  slow  to  take  alarm, 
having  a  healthy  man's  scorn  of  small  ills,  and  an 
active  man's  aversion  to  lying  by  for  treatment,  and 
so  the  malady  got  a  great  start.  It  was  not  till  the 
debility  and  utter  wretchedness  of  a  corrupted  cir- 
culation came  upon  him  that  he  gave  up  and  took  to 
his  bed,  and  then  it  was  too  late  to  mend,  in  spite 
of  the  proverb.  He  never  rose  again,  although,  by 
dint  of  his  strong  vitality  and  the  devices  of  surgery 
and  good  care,  he  lingered  for  months. 

Wightman  had  a  pretty  large  family,  as  families 
go,  though  one  of  the  smallest  of  the  colony,  and 
with  this  further  peculiarity  that  his  boys  were  all 
girls.  He  had  five  daughters  and  never  a  son. 
They  were  bright,  pleasant  girls,  sound  in  limb  and 
wind,  and  that  ought  to  be  enough,  but  it  is  not,  in 
the  eyes  of  the  world,  as  everyone  knows.  Unless 
a  girl  has  some  claim  to  beauty,  she  is  going  to  be 
neglected  and  passed  by  for  others  perhaps  not  half 
as  worthy.  The  Wightman  girls  were  none  of 
them  favored  in  the  matter  of  looks,  except  as 
babies,  when  they  had  a  sauciness  about  them  which 
was  very  taking,  and  caused  you  to  regret  seeing 
them  grow  up,  and  of  the  lot  Caroline,  the  eldest, 
was  most  especially  plain,  a  broad,  stocky,  almost 


A   Lord  of  Lands.  319 

formless  person,  with  a  freckled  face  and  a  snub 
nose,  and,  what  the  w^omen,  who  should  know 
whereof  they  speak,  declare  worst  of  all,  red  hair, 
and  none  of  your  auburn  hair,  or  golden  hair,  either, 
but  downright  red,  with  no  ifs  nor  ands  about  it. 
Will  you  tell  me  what  is  the  ground  for  the  feeling 
against  red  hair?  My  own  is  pretty  much  turned  to 
white,  so  that  I  have  not  the  interest  in  the  question 
I  once  had,  and  still  I  should  like  very  much  to 
know. 

But  Caroline,  I  am  convinced,  never  lost  any  sleep 
worrying  over  her  plainness,  or  its  effect  upon  her 
prospects,  although  it  w^as  no  doubt  a  disappoint- 
ment to  her,  as  it  should  be  to  every  good  girl,  to 
find  herself  not  much  considered  by  the  young  men. 
A  defect  of  beauty  is  a  good  thing  for  a  woman  in 
at  least  one  way,  since  it  throws  her  back  upon  her 
good  sense,  and  develops  strong  and  admirable  traits 
which  a  pretty  face  would  leave  her  with  no  oc- 
casion to  discover.  Whatever  thought  of  marrying 
Caroline  may  have  entertained  in  her  young  girl- 
hood, and  I  suppose  the  girl  never  w^as  who  enter- 
tained no  such  thought,  she  put  it  away  when  she 
became  a  woman,  and  made  herself  everybody's 
sweetheart,  in  a  sense.  Her  gentle  unselfish  ways 
won  her  a  place  in  the  affections  of  all  who  knew  her, 
until  we  were  ready,  any  of  us,  to  make  oath  that 
she  was  the  best  and  dearest  girl  in  the  world. 
The  very  fact  of  her  being  so  obviously  and  con- 
fessedly out  of  the  matrimonial  race,  as  it  were, 
made  her  the  natural  confidant,  not  only  of  the 
other  girls,  but  of  the  boys,  too,  and  girls  and  boys 


320  A  Lord  of  Lands. 

alike  went  to  her  with  their  little  troubles  of  the 
heart,  and  she  knew  more  of  the  love  affairs  of  the 
neighborhood  than  anybody  else  could  dimly  guess. 

When  it  came  time  for  her  to  think  of  making 
her  own  way,  she  chose  to  be  a  teacher.  She  would 
have  made  an  ideal  teacher,  I  know,  what  with  her 
quick  insight,  and  ready  sympathy,  and  boundless 
patience.  We  took  a  pride  in  her  fine  qualities,  and 
an  interest  in  her  progress,  and  looked  for  her  to 
achieve  great  things.  But  her  destiny  was  ordered 
otherwise.  She  had  gone  away  to  school  to  fit  her- 
self, when  her  father  was  taken  sick,  for  nothing 
would  satisfy  her  but  the  best  equipment  to  be  had. 
Of  course  she  had  to  come  home.  I  say  of  course, 
because  the  mother  was  a  weak  character,  a  suf^- 
cient  helpmate  for  a  strong  man,  but  without  force 
to  take  the  lead  in  an  emergency,  and  the  other 
girls  were  like  her,  or  else  too  young  to  be  con- 
sidered. Caroline  had  to  come,  and  the  worst  of  it 
was,  there  was  no  telling  when  she  might  go  back, 
if  ever.  None  of  us  doubted  much  that  Wightman 
was  never  to  get  well,  and  when  he  was  gone,  who 
was  to  be  head  of  the  family,  if  not  Caroline?  We 
looked  ahead  and  saw  the  girl's  life  marked  out 
for  her  by  inexorable  fate,  and  it  was  the  life  of 
drudging  sacrifice.  Why  were  such  crosses  reserved 
for  such  a  person?  We  sorrowed  for  her,  you 
may  believe,  but  we  never  saw  the  first  sign  that  she 
sorrowed  for  herself.  She  shouldered  her  great 
burden  cheerfully,  as  if  she  were  altogether  con- 
tent.    And  truly,  I  believe  she  was. 

There  was  a  desperate  tangle  awaiting  her.    Mrs. 


A  Lord  of  Lands.  321 

Wightman  had  worried  herself  into  a  state  border- 
ing on  collapse,  and  had  actually  to  be  watched  for 
fear  of  her  doing  something  very  dreadful.     The 
little  girls,  one  of  them  a  babe  in  arms,  were  another 
care,  since  their  mother  was  not  to  be  trusted  with 
them.     Then  there  was  the  farm  work,  going  at 
sixes  and  sevens,  for  lack  of  a  man's  hand.     These 
things   the   neighbors   could,   and   gladly   did,   take 
upon  themselves,   and  attended  to   faithfully  until 
the  end,  but  they  were  only  a  small  part  as  compared 
with  that  which  of  necessity  devolved  upon  Caroline. 
The  care  of   the   sick  man  was  her   task,   and   it 
was  such  a  task  as  girl  of  eighteen  never  had  before. 
No  doubt  it  is  a  brave  thing  to  plunge  into  the 
jaws  of  belching  cannon,  in  search  of  the  bubble 
reputation  or  what  not,  but  then  the  suspense  and 
trial  are  soon  over  and  done  with,  one  way  or  the 
other.     But  what  of  the  bravery  of  this  thing  of 
attending    for    months    upon    one    sick    with    the 
uncleanest  of  sickness,  never  drawing  back,  never 
showing  the  faintest  indication  of  repulsion,  never 
neglecting  one  touch  for  the  loathsomeness  of  it? 
As  long  as  Wightman  kept  his  senses,  he  endured 
grittily,  for  he  was  a  gritty  man,  who  took  pride  in 
keeping  his  pains  to  himself.     But  soon  the  poison 
mounted  to  his  brain,  and  robbed  him  of  his  under- 
standing, and  after  that  he  was  like  a  sick  child,  to 
the  last  degree  fretful  and  whimsical  and  exacting. 
He  would  have  nobody  near  him  but  Caroline,  and 
her  he  would  not  endure  out  of  his   sight.     His 
poor  body  fell  into  a  most  awful  state  of  ulceration, 
until  it  took  a  high  fortitude  for  anybody  to  approach 


322  A  Lord  of  Lands. 

him,  and  the  labor  of  keeping  his  linen  wholesome 
was  appalling.  Everything  he  touched  had  to  be 
changed  as  often  as  once  each  day,  and  the  wash- 
ing alone,  even  had  it  been  of  an  ordinary  character, 
was  work  enough  for  a  strong  woman.  Caroline 
did  every  rag  of  it,  with  her  own  hands,  and  would 
hear  to  nobody  outside  the  family  being  troubled 
with  it,  and  to  tell  the  truth,  I  doubt  if  she  was  very 
hard  pressed  to  yield  that  point,  for  it  would  take 
a  sublimer  sentiment  than  neighborly  kindness  to 
hold  a  woman  of  ordinary  sensibilities  to  so  nauseous 
an  employment.  It  is  altogether  a  most  unpleasant 
subject  to  dwell  on,  and  I  would  fain  forget  it, 
only  that  it  is  the  proof  of  the  heroic  fiber  of  our 
girl,  and  as  such  it  should  be  set  down.  Nothing  but 
a  wondrous  love,  such  as  few  are  capable  of,  and  a 
wondrous  sense  of  duty,  such  as  few  have  any 
understanding  of,  could  have  sustained  her,  to  live 
night  and  day  in  that  fetid  atmosphere,  to  do  that 
awful  work.  We  men  used  to  take  turns  going  over 
to  help  her  about  the  lifting  when  Wightman's 
clothing  had  to  be  changed,  and  for  my  part  I 
never  entered  the  place  without  being  stricken  sick 
at  my  stomach,  and  I  am  not  uncommonly 
squeamish,  either. 

When  he  died  at  last,  everybody  said  in  his  heart, 
in  all  kindness,  for  we  remembered  Wightman 
kindly,  and  meant  no  disrespect,  that  it  was  a 
blessed  deliverance.  Caroline  alone  mourned  and 
was  bowed  with  sorrow.  It  seemed  almost  as  if 
she  hoped  to  see  her  father  recover,  to  see  him 
raised  as  from  the  dead  by  her  faith  and  love,  she 


A   Lord  of  Lands.  323 

took  it  that  hard.  I  surmise  there  was  a  great 
sympathy  between  her  and  her  father,  which  none 
of  us  rightly  understood.  They  were  a  good  deal 
alike,  and  the  only  two  of  their  kind  in  the  family. 
For  all  the  burden  that  his  death  had  lifted  from  her, 
we  could  see  that  she  was  wishing  she  had  her 
father  back,  the  day  we  buried  him. 

But  her  troubles,  great  though  they  had  been, 
were  only  beginning.  What  were  the  Wightmans 
to  do,  henceforth?  That  was  the  question  we  had 
been  asking  one  another,  from  the  first  anticipation 
of  this  sad  hour,  and  now  it  had  got  to  be  answered. 
Only  one  answer  had  we  been  able  to  find,  and 
none  of  us  liked  to  think  of  it.  But  after  the  funeral, 
when  we  had  come  home  and  laid  off  our  good 
clothes,  Ludovika  addressed  me  in  a  fashion  not 
usual  with  her,  and  told  me  my  duty. 

"  Go,"  said  she,  "  and  counsel  with  them.  You 
can  say  what  nobody  else  can,  for  they  look  up  to 
you.     Somebody  has  got  to  tell  them." 

That  was  only  too  true.  Somebody  had  got  to 
tell  them.  And  what  they  were  to  be  told  was  no  less 
than  this,  that  it  was  out  of  the  question  for  them, 
a  family  of  women,  to  try  to  keep  their  farm. 
They  must  give  it  up,  and  go  and  make  them  a  home 
where  there  was  employment  fit  for  women,  and  that 
meant,  of  course,  in  the  city.  It  struck  us  all  as 
a  very  hard  necessity  indeed.  What  was  the  woman 
likely  to  make  of  the  discovery  of  her  situation,  in 
her  weak  and  flighty  condition?  And  what  if 
Caroline  should  be  for  staying  and  making  a  man 
of  herself,  and  going  on  with  the  farm,  to  please  her 


324  A   Lord  of  Lands. 

mother,  how  was  she  to  be  argued  out  of  it  ?  How 
could  she  be  convinced  of  the  futiHty  of  it?  Yet 
there  was  no  other  way.  It  was  a  sad  errand,  to  be 
carrying  new  grief  into  the  house  of  mourning,  but 
Ludovika  was  right  about  it.  It  was  my  place  to 
go,  and  I  went. 

I  found  the  widow  resting  very  easy  under  her 
bereavement,  which  I  had  no  reason  to  wonder  at, 
considering  all  the  circumstances,  but  which  shocked 
me,  none  the  less.  It  seemed  to  me  that  although 
Wightman  was  better  dead,  and  would  be  himself 
the  first  to  say  so  if  he  could  speak,  and  moreover 
although  there  is  in  general  more  weeping  for  the 
dead  than  is  sensible  or  becoming,  because  after  all 
it  springs  chiefly  out  of  a  selfish  sense  of  depriva- 
tion, notwithstanding,  I  say,  it  seemed  to  me  that  the 
woman  should  be  sad,  if  only  with  the  memory  of 
better  days,  and  the  thought  of  what  might  have 
been.  But  I  was  glad,  on  reflection,  from  the  point 
of  view  of  my  own  purpose,  not  to  find  her  in 
hysterics.  Anyway,  I  thought  to  myself,  I  can  now 
come  forthwith  to  the  point,  without  fear,  and  I 
did  so. 

"  Mrs.  Wightman,"  I  said,  bluntly,  "  what  are 
you  going  to  do?  " 

She  told  me,  out  of  a  full,  full  heart,  coming  to 
tears  at  last,  but  tears  of  unmixed  joy,  and  not  of 
sorrow. 

''  Woman,"  said  I,  when  she  was  done,  "  how  long 
have  you  known  this?" 

''  Caroline  has  only  just  now  told  me,"  she  said. 


A   Lord  of  Lands.  325 

"And  how  long,  pray,"  said  I,  "has  Carohne 
known  it  ?  " 

"  I  did  not  ask  her  that,"  said  the  woman,  "  but 
I  beHeve  for  some  time." 

And  now  I  was  all  but  carried  off  my  feet,  with 
my  own  boundless  elation.  The  thought  of  the 
respect  due  the  dead,  about  whose  remains  the  dust 
had  not  yet  settled,  and  the  propriety  of  maintain- 
ing at  least  the  outward  semblance  of  solemnity, 
was  knocked  clean  out  of  my  head,  and  I  hope 
Wightman  will  forgive  me  for  it  w^hen  we  come  to 
the  final  judgment,  and  know^ing  something  of  his 
solid  good  sense,  I  am  confident  he  will.  I  could 
have  leaped  and  danced,  Hke  David  before  the 
ark,  though  I  should  have  made  myself  even  more 
ridiculous.  The  more  I  considered  the  information 
which  had  just  been  laid  before  me,  the  more  lifted 
up  I  was.  I  did  not  tarry  with  Mrs.  Wightman 
longer  than  'to  get  the  particulars  rightly  in  my 
mind,  and  they  were  not  many  or  intricate,  for  the 
news,  like  all  truly  great  news,  was  short  and 
simple.  In  a  very  little  while,  much  less  than  half 
an  hour,  I  should  say,  I  was  back  with  Ludovika 
(I  have  always  suspected  I  ran  most  of  the  way, 
although  I  have  no  recollection  and  may  have  taken 
wings  and  flown  for  aught  I  know  to  tlie  contrary) 
wearing  such  a  look  of  joy  on  my  face  that  she 
was  given  scandal  by  the  sight  of  me. 

"  Ludovika,  woman,"  said  I,  beginning  with  the 
least  important  part  of  the  story  with  which  I  was 
bursting,  "  the  Wightmans  are  all  right." 

"God   be   praised    for    that!"    said    she,    but    I 


326  A   Lord  of  Lands. 

could  see  that  she  wondered  still  why  I  was  so 
mighty  glad. 

"  They  won't  have  to  give  up  their  farm  at  all," 
I  went  on. 

To  this  she  said  nothing,  but  her  eyes  were  open- 
ing wider  and  wider. 

"  Caroline,"  said  I,  "  is  to  be  married." 

"Caroline!"  said  she,  and  sank  down  into  the 
nearest  chair,  with  a  little  gasp. 

"  Caroline,"  I  repeated. 

"  And  who,"  said  she,  looking  up  at  me  as  if 
she  half  divined  the  truth,  "  is  to  marry  Caroline?  " 

With  this  there  came  such  a  swelling  in  my  throat 
that  I  could  hardly  answer  her,  though  the  best  of 
it  all  yet  remained  to  be  told.  However,  I  managed, 
without  much  delay,  to  bring  out  what  was  in  me. 

"  Richy ! "  I  sputtered,  and  then  I  fell  into  a 
chair,  likewise,  being  that  weak  in  my  knees  with 
the  excitement. 

"  Rickard?"  cried  Ludovika,  shrilly,  in  her  hard 
German  fashion. 

"  That  same  indecent  young  ruffian !  "  I  roared, 
having  got  my  voice  back,  and  then  we  burst  into 
tears,  the  both  of  us,  and  sat  there,  and  wept,  till 
we  could  weep  no  longer,  out  of  our  speechless  joy, 
like  the  two  precious  old  fools  we  were. 


THE  END. 


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MISS  E.  B.  SHERMAN'S  TAPER  UGHTS 

12mo,  $1.25. 

"  A  marvelously  brilliant  collection  of  subtle  and  fascinating  essays.'*— 
Boston  Transcript. 

"The  first  satisfactory  stopping  place  is  the  last  page."—Sprinsfield 
Republican. 

HENRY   HOLT  AND   COMPANY        ^Sw^^^ 


^^THE    RETURN    OF   THE    ESSAY" 

MISS  ZEPHINE  HUMPHREY'S  OVER  AGAINST 
GREEN  PEAK 

A  humorous,  homely  and  poetic  account  of  New  England 
country  life.     $1.25  net. 

"  Describes  with  sympathetic  spirit  the  tasks  and  the  pleasures  of  life 
there,  and  emphasizes  the  high  aims  to  which  one  may  reach  even  though 
the  city  be  far  away."— Boston  Transcript. 

"  The  book  has  a  fine  wholesome  atmosphere  and  its  last  chapter  is  pure 
poetry."— Miss  Mien  Bums  Sherman,  author  of  "Words  to  the  Wise— and 
Others." 

"  Verily  it  is  a  delicious  piece  of  work  and  that  last  chapter  is  a  genuine 
poem.  Best  of  all  is  the  charming  sincerity  of  the  hook."— George  Gary 
Ugglestan. 

"  Not  exactly  fiction,  yet  with  some  of  the  best  qualities  of  fiction  in  that 
it  has  characters  who  are  individualized  and  humor  that  is  gentle  and 
cheery  .  .  .  the  unmistakable  air  of  literary  grace  and  refinement."— 2'Ae 
Outlook. 

"  Delightful  appreciation  of  the  poetic  side  of  life  and  the  fun  which  is 
the  heritage  of  the  courageous  and  patient." — T/ie  Congregationaiist. 

"Thoroughly  agreeable  little  book  .  .  .  one  can  figure  it  as  keeping  its 
place  for  many  a  year  among  beloved  volumes,  to  be  presented  half  a  century 
hence  to  the  attention  of  youth,  with  :  '  Ah,  they  don't  write  such  books  as 
that,  nowadays.'  "—The  Living  Age. 

J.  A.  SPENDER'S  COMMENTS  OF  BAGSHOT 

By  the  editor  of  the  Westminster  Gazette.    $1.25  net. 

"  A  whimsical,  very  interesting  and,  at  the  same  time,  very  real,  if  imag- 
inary, character  who,  as  bachelor,  uncle,  book  lover,  elderly  civil  servant 
and  so  on,  is  well  worth  the  acquaintance  of  everybody,  no  matter  how 
careful  in  the  matter  of  making  friends.  "—iV.  T.  Evening  Sun. 

"  Thoughtful,  pungent,  and  at  times  invested  with  a  grave  and  subtle 
humor.  .  .  .  They  promote  thought  .  .  .  possesses  peculiar  and  individual 
qualities  which  mark  it  as  an  unusual  production  .  .  .  distinctly  worth 
yvhile.''— Brooklyn  Eagle. 

"Its  general  characteristics  one  might  dare  to  say  are  sincerity  and 
wisdom.  It  is  genial  without  being  cynical.  It  is  serious  without  being 
solemn.  It  is  liberal  without  being  violent  or  impatient  ...  a  witty, 
singularly  modest,  contained  and  gracious  majmer."— Chicago  Everting  Post. 

"  While  affording  the  easiest  of  reading,  nevertheless  touches  deep  issues 
deeply  and  fine  issues  finely.  The  author  not  only  thinks  himself,  but 
makes  you  think.  Whether  Bagshot  is  dealing  with  death  and  immortality, 
or  riches  and  socialism,  he  always  contrives  to  be  pungent  and  interesting 
and  yet  urbane,  for  there  is  no  attempt  in  the  book  either  at  flashy  cynicism 
or  cheap  epigram." — The  Spectator  (London). 


HENRY     HOLT     AND     COMPANY 

PUBLISHERS  NEW  YORK 


FIVE     DELIGHTFUL    ANTHOLOGIES 

POEMS   FOR   TRAVELERS 

Compiled   by  Mary  R.   J.  DuBois.     16mo.     Cloth,  $1.50: 
leather,  $2.50. 

Covers  France,  Germany,  Austria,  Switzerland,  Italy  and 
Greece  m  some  three  hundred  poems  (nearly  one-third  of 'them 
by  Americans)  from  about  one  hundred  and  thirty  poets.  AH 
but  some  forty  of  these  poems  were  originally  written  in  English. 

The  three  following  books  are  uniform,  with  full  gilt 
flexible  covers  and  pictured  cover  linings.  16mo.  Each  cloth 
|1.50;  leather,  $3.50.  '  * 

THE  POETIC  OLD  WORLD 

Compiled  by  Miss  L.  H.  Humphrey. 

Covers  Europe,  including  Spain,  Belgium  and  the  British  Isles 
In  some  two  hundred  poems  from  about  ninety  poets.  Some 
thirty,  not  originally  written  in  English,  are  given  in  both  the 
original  and  the  best  available  translation. 

THE  OPEN   ROAD 

A  little  book  for  wayfarers.     Compiled  by  E.  V.  Lucas. 

Some  125  poems  from  over  60  authors,  including  Fitzgerald, 
Shelley,  Shakespeare,  Kenneth  Graharae,  Stevenson,  Whitman,' 
Browning,  Keats,  Wordsworth,  Matthew  Arnold,  Tennyson' 
William  Morris,  Maurice  Hewlett,  Isaak  Walton,  William 
Barnes,  Herrick,  Dobson,  Lamb,  Milton,  Whittier,  etc.,  etc. 

"A  very  charming  book  from  cover  to  cover."— Dial. 

THE  FRIENDLY  TOWN 

A  little  book  for  the  urbane,  compiled  by  E.  V.  Lucas. 
^  Over  200  selections  in  verse  and  prose  from  100  authors, 
including:  James  R.  Lowell,  Burroughs,  Herrick,  Thackeray, 
Scott,  Vaughn,  Milton,  Cowley,  Browning,  Stevenson,  Henley 
Longfellow,  Keats,  Swift,  Meredith,  Lamb,  Lang,  Dobson, 
Fitzgerald,  Pepys,  Addison,  Kemble,  Boswell,  Holmes,  Walpole, 
and  Lovelace. 

•  Would  have  delighted  Charles  Lamb."— 7%«  Nation. 

A  BOOK  OF  VERSES  FOR  CHILDREN 

Over  200  poems  representing  some  80  authors.  Compiled  by 
E.  v.  Lucas.  With  decorations  by  F.  D.  Bedford.  Bevised 
edition.     $2.00.     Library  edition,  $1.00  net. 

"We  knovir  of  no  other  anthology  for  children  so  complete  and  well 
arranged ."— Cn  itc. 

HENRY   HOLT   AND   COMPANY        ^^^^^^^ 


**  Each  one  of  them  is  a  blessing.  It  -will  aid  digtsiion,  indue* 
healthy  and  add  to  the  joy  of  the  //z/i«^-."— Washington  Star. 

Poe's  Raven  in  an  Elevator 

By  CHARLES  BATTELL  LOOMIS 

Illustrated  by  MRS.  SHINN  and  others.     i2mo,  $1.25. 

Eighteen  humorous  tales  in  the  vein  of  the  author's 
popular  "  Cheerful  Americans  "  with  a  dozen  equally 
humorous  pictures,  six  of  them  by  Florence  Scovel 
Shinn.  To  these  is  appended  a  delightfully  satirical 
paper  on  "  How  to  Write  a  Novel  for  the  Masses." 

EVEN  JADED  LITERARY  EDITORS  ENJOY 
THESE  STORIES. 

New  York  Evening  Post:  "Many  glittering  little  bits  of  humor 
side  by  side  with  open  attacks  upon  the  follies  and  foibles  of 
mankind." 

Chicago  Record- Herald:  "There  is  enough  of  the  Stockton 
flavor  in  this  volume  to  make  it  deserve  a  new  career  in  its  fresh 
dress.  The  book  is  pleasantly  illustrated  by  Florence  Scovel 
Shinn  and  others." 

N.  V.  Times  Review:  "  We  take  this  occasion  to  publicly  thank 
Mr.  Loorais.  .  .  .  This  new  volume  of  American  humor  equals 
in  merit  its  predecessor,  •  Cheerful  Americans.'  it  is  full  of 
good,  comic  tales,  well  told.  .  .  .  Slices  of  real  life.  ...  A 
book  full  of  wholesome  diversion." 

Cheerful     Americans 

By  CHARLES  BATTELL  LOOMIS. 

With   24  Illustrations  by   FLORENCE    SCOVEL    SHINN, 
FANNY  Y.  CORY  and  others.     i2mo.     $1.25 

Serenteen  humorous  tales,  including  three  quaint  automobile 
stories,  and  the  "Americans  Abroad  "  series,  "The  Man  of 
Putty,"  "Too  Much  Boy,"  "The  Men  Who  Swapped  Lan- 
guages," "  Veritable  Quidors,"  etc. 

N.  Y.  Times  Saturday  Review  says  of  one  of  the  stories:  "IT  IS 
WORTHY  OF  FRANK  STOCKTON."  The  rest  of  the  notice 
praises  the  book. 

N.  Y.  Tribune:  "He  13  unafifectedly  funny,  and  entertains  U5  from 
beginning:  to  end." 

Nation:  "  The  mere  name  and  the  very  cover  are  full  of  hope.  .  .  . 
This  small  volume  is  a  safe  one  to  lend  to  a  gambler,  an  invalid,  a 
hypochondriac,  or  an  old  lady;  more  than  safe  for  the  normal  man.   .  .  . 

The  book  should  fulfiU  a  usefta  mission  on  rainy  days." 

Henry     Holt     and     Company 

34  West  Thirty-third  Street      -      -      -      New  York 


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